A Prelude to Rise (Rewritten)
by EnderScar
Summary: Ender Finis, a man searching for a his past. Obsi Dian, a woman who has finally let go of it. Although opposites, these two must work together to find out who they once were... that is, if it's truly what they want. Dichotomy Arc.
1. Chapter 1

_I am Ender Finis, and every version of me, from every single universe, has been erased... except for me._ _I have been left outside of existence itself in what is known as Imori. Out here, everything is just a deep infinite abyss which apparently acts as a hallway to each and every universe. Now, while being left out of existence does have its perks, like leaving me alone to my thoughts, wandering the endless abyss until I die from old age, and cursing me with a blade that is bound to me permenantly, i'd rather find out what caused all of this._

 _Thankfully, Imori has its two creators, Vade and Jinn, who want to find out what happened much as I do. With their help, we can find out what caused this, and maybe even rediscover who I am. Where might this journey take me, I don't know, but whatever we find may bring us closer to the answers we seek._

* * *

 ** _A Prelude to Rise_**

 **Chapter 1**

The Start of a New Journey

 _"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."_

 _– Lao Tzu_

* * *

I stood in the dark and endless void I had grown so familiar to. Every light and sound that you could make would engulf any attempts at piercing the darkness. Although ominous, the black abyss was a relieving thing to see once again.

Suddenly, the calm yet powerful voice of Vade came from behind me.

"Welcome back Ender." He spoke as I quickly turned to face him. The glowing liquid that formed his body was always a strange sight to see, he had no face, but the figure of a normal human male.

"Well..." I replied with what could _barely_ be called a hopeful tone. "Did you two find anything yet?"

Then, the familiar voice of Jinn came from behind him, as he moved to the side to stand next to him. Jinn was similar to Vade in appearance, her orange glow stood out compared to her counterpart, and she wore the figure of a normal adult female instead.

"Things like this take time," She said with her regular friendly and mellow tone. "Imori is like a cut on a tree, it needs to heal naturally, and once it does, we'll be one step closer to figuring out-"

"What's causing this, I know already... its just that..." I spoke with a dissapointed sigh. "It's been over a year since we've started, and all were getting is 'one step closer' and it gets old."

"We're right here!" She continued, "Once we let this refugured set of universes heal, we get our break!"

Disheartened, I turned back to Vade for a response.

"She's right, when we send you back into another universe, by the time you're done, we'll have our answers."

I looked back to Jinn, who only nodded, and I let out a deep sigh.

"Alright... so where to now?" I questioned.

"The World of Fanto. A world where magic and technology are almost united, the world is now about to face one of, if not its greatest threat, you will acompany a man by the name of Charlie Kyle." She explained.

"And what makes him so important?"

"His family line has encountered this threat before, and it's going to take much more than him to defeat it."

"When do you send me in?"

"Now." Jinn said as a bright opening came from our side. The light was too bright to look through, and it strained my eyes as I tried.

"Well..." I said to myself as I began to walk through the opening.

 _"Let's do this..."_ I said as the light engulfed me entirely.

* * *

The bright light quickly faded as I found myself standing inside of a bedroom, the sounds of the ocean coming from nearby, and the pacing of hurried footsteps coming from above me. I walked quickly towards the nearby window to see an ocean with a cloud-dotted sky above. I walked out of the room and into the hallway of what looked to be a hotel hallway with people of all kinds coming out of their rooms and heading upstairs with their luggage. As I took a step forward, I felt the ground move and I found myself slightly off balance, that was when it clicked. I was on a boat of some kind. I followed the passengers out, curious to where they were going, and emerged at the side of the ship.

People were gathering around the railing of the boat and were looking towards the bow of the ship towards... something. I squeezed between a couple of people to look and I saw what they were staring at. The port town in the near distance spotted the beach with houses of different shapes and sizes. However, a large dock to the side appeared to be where we would be making landfall. The people that were gathered a short distance away from the dock were waving and carrying signs welcoming people who could only be assumed as family. The boat slowly moved and stopped at the dock, before crew members began allowing people to get off of the boat. I followed the passengers off the ship, and turned to observe the boat we rode on. The boat was like a cruise ship, but smaller and more compact, but nonetheless, it took us to where we all wanted to be.

Except I had no clue where I wanted to be. Hell, I didn't even know where I was.

I looked to one of the crew members who appeared to be handing a bag back to a passenger, and spoke.

"Excuse me sir, do you know wh-" I started, before being abruptly cut off with a loud sigh.

"Listen man, if you left your bag on the boat, get it yourself dammit." He tautly stated.

I was taken aback for a moment, before I continued. "Do you happen to know where we landed...?"

With another sigh, he answered. "The port town of Cocao, Fanto." He said before walking away and mumbling to himself, "I swear nobody ever reads their damn tickets and where they're going."

Now left in the midst of a crowd, I took off into the town, seeing if anyone knew what this 'threat' was.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hello everyone! I am EnderScar, and_ _two years ago around this time, a author by the name of Ckbrothers posted a SYOC story in which_ _I myself, and about twenty people created OC's for this story. This is the rewrite and continuation my story which occurred before, up to, and eventually after the events of his story._ _This will more than likely be done differently, but not that many people read the original._ _This story won't be the usual thing you see here (Youtubers, mob fanfics, getting sucked into the game, ect.) but I do hope that you still enjoy! I hope that anyone who reads will enjoy and criticize any mistakes I may make, I would appreciate it!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A New World to Explore

 _"I haven't been Everywhere, but it's on my list."_

 _\- Susan Sontag_

* * *

The town was full of life, people greeting friends and family that had rode on the ship with me, others were going throughout their daily lives. It was strange to look at it all, knowing that... _something_ was going to come in and bring it all to ruin, which was why I needed to find this Charlie Kyle. I wandered the town, aimlessly searching for anything that could lead me to him. That was, until a home near the forest caught my eye. The building appeared to be built directly into the tree, with a door and rusted lamp post lighting the way in the soon arriving evening. A simple window appeared to be newly built into the side of the tree, revealing a faint view of a bedroom of some kind.

Curious, I approached the home and poked around. It had a small garden at the side of the home. Before I could look further, a sound of a door opening took my attention. Poking just out of the door was what looked to be an woman's head, but the feathers surrounding her face made me second guess for a moment.

"May I help you?" She spoke with a concerned tone.

"I uh... didn't realize you were home..." I said slowly as I tried to talk my way through an excuse. "I just came in from the docks and I'm... new around here."

"And why might you be looking around my house?"

"I just... noticed how old it was and thought that if the home reflected its owner, they might possibly know a thing or two about this place."

The woman seemed to ponder over it for a moment before replying.

"What is it you want to know?"

"Just the history of this place, that's it."

She pondered again, much longer this time, before finally letting me in.

"Come in, take a seat."

I followed her inside, her home was a small one to say the least. Both her living room and kitchen area were connected, the only other place to go was upstairs.

"Go on and sit down, i'll go grab us something to drink." She said as she walked her way over to the kitchen.

Soon enough, the sound of a kettle whistling, and a small cup of tea was being handed to me as the woman sat down.

"I'm Qara Vol, but most of the people around here call me Mrs. Q." She introduced herself as she took a small sip.

"Ender Finis." I introduced as I quickly downed the entire cupfull. "So, what can you tell me about... this place?"

"This place is called Fanto, it's most famously renowned as _'The Magic Frontier'_. The plantlife around here is drastically different compared to normal plant life due to Aura, an essensse which is used in every form of magic." She explained.

"That's... interesting. How long have you lived here for?"

"Ever since I was born I suppose, and that was... some odd thirty years ago..." She stated as she soon trailed off.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about Charlie Kyle, would you?"

She froze for a moment as her hand holding her glass began to shake. "The Kyle's? I..." Her voice trembled slightly as she thought for a moment. "How... do you know about them?"

"I'm just looking for-"

"You want to know about the Kyles? They ruled this land several years ago before they were wiped out along with most of their people. How do _you_ know who they are?"

"I only know about-" I began before I cut myself off, "Listen, I was sent here to find him."

"So he _is_ alive..." She muttered to herself, before speaking back to me. "I don't know where he is, but I do believe I know of someone who might have an idea to where he is."

"Where?"

"Head for the town of Dolgow, there's a historian by the name of Haron there, he might have an idea to where Charlie Kyle is."

I got up and turned for the door, before I could leave however, Qara stopped me. "One more thing!" She said as she walked towards a cupboard and pulled out from it a map with two large masses of land on it and handed it to me. "This is a map of the land, it should help you around."

"Thank you." I said as I nodded and made my way back outside.

"And good luck!" She shouted at me.

"I'm sure going to need it..." I muttered to myself and began to head towards Dolgow.

* * *

 _She strutted through the stone city as she finally reached where she needed to be._ She stood underneath a large metalic building as she waited for the elevator to get to her.

The chime of the elevator prompted her to walk in, as a man was already inside, waiting for her and began to speak.

"Have you heard about the two? The ones from the forest?" He asked

"No, what happened?" She replied.

"Some kind of fire broke out in the Forest and drove a couple people out."

"People from _inside_ the Forest?! Do you realize how-" She began with excitement before being interrupted.

"Groundbreaking it is? Yeah. Dan actually wanted me to get as much of the Council over here before he arrived with the two."

"Perfect. I'll go on inside then." She said as she pressed a button on the wall, and began to ascend.

The elevator chimed again, signaling her to step off. As she did, the doors closed behind her, leaving her in to Council's meetingroom. She walked to her seat and began to wait impatiently.

She was excited to meet two people from a place where, if understood better, could possibly change the world forever.

After a while of filling in a report, the sound of the doors opening drew her attention.

"And this is the Council area, where most of the important officials in our town gather." Spoke Dan's familiar voice.

"That is, if any of 'em were to show up." A familiar dwarvish accent said jokingly.

Dan, Dio, and the two strangers came from around the corner.

"Ah! Obsi! I heard that you were back from your patrol report." Dan stated.

"Yeah, and I heard around the grapevine that we found a couple from the Forest?"

"Yes! Obsi, I would like you to meet Charlie and Eve, the two from the Forest." Dan motioned to the two beside him. One who had short brown hair along with a set of bright blue eyes, the other had a thick head of golden blond hair and brown eyes.

She waved to them before introducing herself.

 _"Hello you two, I'm Obsi. Obsi Dian. Now, let's have a chat."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A New Perspective

 _"When you change your perspective, the World changes with it."_

 _\- Unknown_

* * *

The seven of us left town in the evening as the sun began to shine it's last rays through the cloud-dotted sky, with supplies and all for the entire trip. The two from the forest were... oddly normal. Charlie was curious yet cautious about everything, wanting others to do things that were seemingly normal. He interested in what this world had to offer, but something in his deep blue eyes said that something was stuck on his mind. Eve, on the other hand, was more welcoming towards the things around her, however, from the looks on her face, she was someone who never hid how she felt. She was kind and more admitting to the simple fact that where she was more than likely never going back to the Forest, where she says she grew up in.

Our trek was a long yet uneventful one, but thankfully, we were close. We paused for a moment, all of us sore and tired from the trip.

"I'm so... bloody... tired." Dio tiredly said to us all. Cole, who usually acted cocky when others grew weary, looked intensely at Dio as he replied.

"Says the only dwarf I know... who can _float_... instead of walk..." He said with an tired but snappy tone, before letting out an exhausted sight. _"I can't feel my legs..."_ He muttered.

"Oh suck it up," Mareve lividly replied, "At least he's using his feet for once, right?"

"Except for when... you had me carry you over... that bridge that went the canyon." Charlie butted in.

"I'm afraid of heights aight? _Shite_..." He yelled angrily as he raised his fist.

"YOU CAN FLOAT!" The four of them shouted at him almost simultaneously. Dio, appeared to prepare a response, before Dan stepped in himself.

"Listen people," He began, "I know that we've been walking for a while, but look!" He motioned towards what appeared to be a more fine suited path, smoothed out with stone. The forest covering patches of the winding path as it moved throughout the forest and towards what looked to be the silhouette of a distant city which nearly blocked the setting sun.

"We're in viewing distance of the city, so once we rest up, we can get up bright and early in the morning and finish this trip."

"Dan's right, we should get some rest." I said as I went ahead and found a somewhat comfortable place and lied down. The others just stood for a moment, before doing the same. I could feel my surroundings fade as I fell asleep...

* * *

 _Ten Years ago..._

* * *

I remember this... place. The white room, bright lights, the locked door, and when they came to do their... _tests._ I wanted nothing to do with it, yet the same thing would always happen. The doors would open to reveal a man, and sometimes a woman, who would walk slowly towards me.

"Don't worry sweetie, It's only going to take a minute..." They would always say to me with a honeyed tone as the room seemed to spin and fade to black, before finding myself wake back up in the room with nothing. All of it felt so unnatural, yet no matter how many times I would kick and scream and struggle, it would always end up the same. The _same_ four walls, the _same_ blinding lights, and the _same_ uncomfortable feeling inside me, as if something had been moved. I wanted a way out, _something_ that would be my saving grace.

However, one time was different, the man came into the room before everything went to black, and I awoke to find the door wide open, and the lights now glowing a crimson red. I slowly got up to my feet and stepped through the door, and found myself in a hallway. It seemed to be littered with doorways, leading to other rooms that were just like the one I was in. Nobody was in sight as I continued to walk down the barren hallways, before I noticed something different. At the end of the hallway appeared to be an entrance, and as I approached it, nearing what I believed to be my way out, a scream came from behind me.

* * *

I awoke to Dio with his hand on my shoulder, as he gently shook me.

"Ey, wake up, it's time to move." He said to me, as I looked around, I noticed that the others were already up and appeared to be ready to go.

"S-sorry..." I sleepily said as I slowly got up to my feet, grabbing the umbrella and began to move over with the others.

Apparently I appeared to be nervous as Dan walked up to me, a look of slight concern on his face.

"Good morning!" He began with his usual caring tone, "Are you... alright?" he asked, "You look a little... nervous."

"Yeah... yeah! I'm fine, lets get moving." I lied as he shrugged it off and walked down the path.

 _I know that he cares for me..._ I though to myself, _But he can't know, not yet at least..._

"You guys?" Eve said with her own worrisome look. "You might want to see this..."

As we quickly approached Eve, the view ahead was apparent. Down where the dirt path approached the stone path, a man stood somewhat off the path and near the forest lied next to it.

"What?" Maeve questioned, "It's just some guy on the road, probably going the same way we are."

"But why is he standing near the forest?" Charlie asked.

Suddenly, the man appeared to draw a weapon from his side, before backing away from the forest. Chasing him from the forest were hundreds of spiders, all together in a hoard as they quickly approached him.

Dio seemed to float up and squirm in disgust as he backed away from the view. "Why the hell did it have to be spiders?" He said with disgusts.

"I don't know, it's not too surprising to see spiders in these parts, but-" Dan began before Dio cut him off with a yelp as he looked away again.

"WHY ARE THERE SO BLOODY MANY?!" He screamed.

"Oh suck it up," Cole said in an odd mocking tone as he reached for his blade, and _ran straight into the fray._

"Are you insane?" I shouted at him.

"Probably!" He shouted back as he took as swing at a spider, cutting the head clean off.

Dan let out a sigh as he reached for his club. "Why are you always like this Cole..." He ran in behind Cole, followed by the rest of us as we began to take on the spider hoard.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The Shovel, The Man, and His Bucket

 _"We are all here to help others; what the others are here for, I don't know."_

 _-W. H. Auden_

* * *

Dan and I were back to back as we fought, spiders attacking us from all sides. A large group of spiders was approaching us, until a large rock came from our side, crushing several of them under its force. I looked to my side to see Eve, Cole, Dio, and Maeve all gathered together as they took out their fair share of spiders.

"Ya know lass," Dio began as he took his hand and sent a focused gust of wind at a oncoming group of spiders. "I'm impressed with how well ya' use earth magic."

"Thanks..." She said as she manipulated a smaller stone and forced it through a spiders skull. Before Dio could speak more, a spider lunged at him, nearly missing him as he ducked out of the way. "Does anybody know where Charlie went?" She shouted as she continued to kill the spiders surrounding us.

"I think that he went to help that guy over there with the bucket on his head." Cole motioned towards the forest, where some of the spiders appeared to be moving back inside.

"He's in _THERE_?" Maeve said with a concerned tone before stabbing a spider through the skull.

"Well, we've been trying to figure out _how_ to take out this nest of spiders," Dan said as he whacked a spider into another, knocking both of them to the side.

"So unless the two are wanting to sign their death warrants, then _one_ of them has a plan." I finished for Dan as we continued to face the creatures.

As we continued to strike down wave after wave, as each and every one of us grew more exhausted after each swing, the spiders continued their march to us, until they all stopped, looking confused before fleeing, each and every one of them crawling over each other to escape us as we all stood in confusion.

"Well..." Cole said tiredly as he continued to eye the spiders scurrying away, "I think that... whatever plan that guy with the bucket head... I think it worked..."

Suddenly, a sound came from the forest, causing us to all prepare ourselves for a moment, before lowering our weapons again as both Charlie and the man with what looked to be a crude metallic helmet made from two pieces, only being held by two leather straps. Slowly, the two approached us as they appeared to be just as, if not even more exhausted as we were. The man took the shovel he held in his hand, and stuck it into the ground.

"Thank you all for helping me... I never really expected _that_ many to be in the forest..." The man spoke with a lower tone as he fiddled with his head straps before finally taking off the helmet, revealing his ashen face and long yet thinning black hair.

"Dolgow finally... worked on their...'bug problem' I see." Dan said as he went to shake the mans hand. "I'm Dan and this is the rest of my group... we're all heading towards Dolgow to speak with some... old friends."

"Well, Dan, I'm glad to be accompanied by you and your group," He began as he shook Dans hand, "I'm Bruce Diraiz, and if you all wouldn't mind, I would like to accompany you back to Dolgow."

 _"I think that we would be glad to..."_ Dan replied as we all began to gather our bearings, preparing for the final stretch of our journey, with the city's skyline in the distance.

* * *

The map Qara had given to me led me off the main path and down what looked to be a path that hadn't been used in forever, with birds, insects, and other sounds filling the forest as I continued. The trees and their roots had begun to take over the path, with a faint line of what used to be the path guiding me.

 _Talk about a shortcut..._ I thought to myself as I looked down at the map, it said that the road would take me straight towards Dolgow. Before I could observe further, I felt my foot snag against a root, and I fell face first to the ground.

"Shit..." I grunted as I got back up to my feet and began to wipe the dirt from myself. Out of the corner, I heard a faint rumble from the distance, some ways ahead of me.

 _Sounds like the rain..._ I thought as I looked up to the now graying sky and continued to walk down the path. Thankfully, the path up ahead appeared to open up into a field, which meant I could stop tripping over these tree roots. As I neared the field, a distant bang made everything other than the moving trees go quiet. _That's... a little to close for it to be rain._

Around the field appeared to be small, darkened scorch marks on the ground, all of them being several feet apart. Faint trails of smoke still emanated from the marks, when suddenly, a blue bolt flew and landed several feet ahead of me, creating another mark like the rest. Instinctively, I felt for my blade as it came to my hands as the light weight of the sword in my hands, ready to aid me whenever needed. I stared ahead, looking for the source of the shot, to find what appeared to be two guards who were standing with another person who wore a dark jumpsuit.

Before I could ask any questions, the man fired another shot at me, making me jump to the side. These guys _clearly_ didn't want me in on whatever it was they were doing. I stood with my sword firm in my hands, ready for whatever these three would throw.

* * *

 _A/N: Hey everybody that's still reading this, hopefully you've been enjoying this story so far, and I appreciate the reviews that I've received, it means a lot to me. Sorry for posting late, as Hurricane Michael came through and knocked out my power for a bit, but I'm back! Can't wait to see you all in the next chapter!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A Fight in the Rain

 _"After the rain, the sun will reappear. After the pain, the joy will still be here."_

 _-Walt Disney_

* * *

The man began to charge at me, and I at him as the two guards accompanying him began to back away. They appeared to be confident that he would be able to take me out on his own. Closing the gap between us, he took the blade in his hands and lunged at me. I raised my own blade in defense, only for it to be cast to the side as a black shield now cut my view from the man. In my moment of confusion, the man took the shield and pushed me back with it.

"Well that's... _new_." I bantered as the mans shield now retracted back into the blade.

"Glad to hear it," He cockily replied. "You'll be the first person I get to try it on."

He took his blade and aimed it towards me, a quickly brightening blue glow beginning to form at the tip. Instinctively, I ducked under his aim, attempting to take a jab at his legs. He took a step back, but not before I could leave a cut on one of his legs.

In reaction, he moved his hand down as the weapon fired into the ground. A mix of dust and smoke engulfed the two of us, and left us hidden from each other.

"Merand!" One of the two guards shouted, "You alright?"

Merand, who I assumed to be the one I was fighting, replied with the sound of coughing, before he regathered his bearings.

"He's somewhere in the smoke, just fire!" He said angrily.

As I stumbled through the smoke myself, blue shots flew past me, left and right. One shot managed to graze me in the side, leaving a singe mark and a small jolt of pain. I managed to find my way out of smoke, leaving me to the side, out of their view. I ran to the side, the two guards still firing into the smoke. As I ran around the smoke plume towards them, I took a blind dodge around and managed to land a blow into one of the guards, making both his weapon and his hand useless.

"Dammit!" Merand said as he turned to the other guard, his blade ready to defend. "Take care of him, I can handle it from here." As we continued to fight, the two guards began to make their way back towards whatever facility they had hidden inside the woods.

"You know," He continued as he took a swing at me, barely missing my shoulder. "You're pretty good for a first _test_."

"What do you mean?" I asked, receiving no response, he appeared to want to finish this quickly. "Alright then..." I took a swing towards his blade, fully expecting him to open it up to block.

As he opened up his blade to block, I managed to move my blade around his block and into his arm, leaving a long, deep cut, causing a deep violet blood to pour out. Surprised at the odd discovery, he shouted with one of rage as he threw his blade into his other hand, still ready to fight. He took his hand, firmly gripped to his blade, and took a hard blow towards my face, forcing me to the ground as my blade fell away from me. He held his blade to my face, ready to strike me down at any moment.

"Merand!" A new voice came from behind him. He turned, his blade still directed at me, and saw who called to him. A woman wearing a white uniform stared back at him. "Time to go, _now._ "

"Don't worry," He began, his cocky attitude beginning to return to him. "I got him rig-" Without a moments notice, I kicked out from under his legs, causing him to fall to the ground. I yanked his blade from his hand and quickly backed onto my feet. The next thought was probably my only good one at this moment.

 _Run._

My feet hit the ground faster than the oncoming rain, the shouts of the woman, Merand, and guards as they rushed after me. All I could do was run as blue bolts flew past me and into the nearby trees, and as the lightning flashed and the rain began to pour, _I was_ _clear._

* * *

"Any signs of him?" She asked one of the guards who stood, soaked like everything around them.

"No Ma'am, nothing..." He said with a shiver as he moved along.

"Shit!" She angrily yelled, hitting a tree with enough force to shale it. "What. The hell. Were you thinking Merand?" She said to the man as he took gauss and began to _somewhat_ bandage up the wound.

"It's not _my_ fault!" He exclaimed while trying to come up with an excuse. "He's the one who stumbled onto us while I was practicing. I just thought he could be... _extra._ "

"Extra?" She said with a disappointed laugh. "The only _extra_ I saw was the extra resources we had to use to fix _your_ damn mistake. And now your _extra_ has the umbrella, managed to escape, and we still have no clue who he was."

"Can you _STOP_ with the excuses," She angrily spoke, "I don't want them, I want _results._ " She looked over the map, specifically over an area reading Dolgow. "And because you can't follow simple orders like coming back to base..." She continued as she reached onto her back, pulling off two sticks and putting them together to form a bow. "I'll have to take care of your mess."

Merand straightened himself out quickly, almost standing ti his feet. "Feuix-" He began before getting cut off by her.

"There's nothing to discuss, you're not ready. Get back inside the facility so they can patch you up." She said, a hint of remorse coming with it, before walking back out into the rain.

Merand said nothing, his head faced the ground in defeat as a trickle of violet blood came from his bandage and onto the damp floor below him. He tightened his bandage and headed back inside.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Making an Entrance/Getaway

 _"A goal without a plan is just a wish."_

 _― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry_

* * *

"Finally..." Our newfound companion Bruce said as we reached the entrance to Dolgow, stretching his arms into the drizzling sky. "Welcome to Dolgow you guys, hope you guys find what you're looking for."

"Actually," Dan spoke up from behind, "We were coming for the tournament you guys were inviting us to, here in Dolgow."

He stopped and turned back to us, looking at us for a moment while thinking of something. "You guys are here for the Dolgow Gala? Hold on, let me guess... William sent for you guys, right?"

"William Riker?" Dan curiously asked.

"Precisely," Bruce responded, before Maeve herself chimed in.

" _The_ William Riker?" She said with excitement, Charlie, alongside Eve, moved over to me.

"Who's William Riker?" Charlie asked with genuine confusion.

"William Riker is one of the... _more important..._ historians of Fanto. His research, along with the help of Fantos own elder members, have allowed us to understand Aura better than we possibly could-" I began, before Maeve cut me off.

"And I've always wanted to meet him!" She said excitedly.

"Hey, relax," Cole said with a ever-growing smirk as he came from behind Maeve. "He's probably far from here, seeing how much your freaking out about him."

"I'm serious!" Maeve, giving a irritated shove to Cole, replied.

"Joking! Only joking!"

"Come on you two, we're almost where we need to be, and besides, it's about to rain anyways."

The two of them stopped, before walking with everyone else, leaving me in the back. I looked up to the sky to see the graying clouds, with the feeling of rain coming down onto both the ground and me. Casually, I pulled out my umbrella, holding it above my head, and continued to walk along with the others. I knew that we had to get over to the meeting area with the others, so we could prepare for the Gala.

"Hey, Bruce." Eve said to the ashen skin man, "You mentioned a... Gala? before, what's that about?"

"Well," He started, "The Gala is all about Aura, and everything which revolves around it. How it's something that lives inside us all, and how we can use it with magic. It a sort of... tournament, so to speak, where with the eight forms of Aura go against each other."

"Eight? I thought there was more..." Eve replied.

"Nope," Dan interrupted. "Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Dark, Light, Nature, and straight Aura."

"Right, and they all face off against each other, leaving only one standing who will be crowned the victor until the next one. Hopefully, we could get your friend there with the Aura sword to take a part in it." He said as he motioned to Charlie.

" _Me?_ " He replied with surprise. "No no no, I don't know any form of... magic."

"I know, but that blade is made of Aura Crystal, one of the hardest forms of it to come by." Bruce continued to explain. "William, and some of the other members want to see how you and the other contestants use it, if at all."

"Besides," Dio interjected, "Who wouldn't want to take apart in the Gala? You get to train for it anyways."

"Trust me," Dan said as we finally reached the building, walking into its carpeted floor. "It'll be fun."

* * *

I was wet, tired, and found myself aimlessly lost in the woods. Heavy breathing, and the sound of rain in the trees were the only sounds I could hear as I sat under a larger tree to catch my breath.

I took a moment to check myself, to see if anything was gone or missing. _Nothing but dirt and cuts_... I thought as I looked at a small red cut on my shoulder. I looked down to my blade, the faint taint of the mans violet blood was still apparent, the rain continuing to slowly was it away.

The black umbrella, however, was far from the same when compared to my sword. It was metallic, the weight reflected that, but with the mix of a trigger and lights on the handle, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to simply open it up.

With the press of a button at the end of the handle, it quickly opened up. I got to my feet and propped the umbrella over my shoulder. _At least i'll be dry,_ I thought to myself before walking in which I assumed to be a way that would lead me to the road. I took my own blade, as I had time and time before, and left it on the ground, watching it fade quickly, leaving no trace of it behind.

I couldn't help but think about the whole encounter. The man, the logo on his jumpsuit, everything about it was odd, leaving me wondering what they could be.

My thoughts were short lived as a arrow flew past me, digging itself deep into a tree. Turning back, I found myself face to face with _her._

The woman that came for that Merand guy, stood just beyond the treeline, a yellow glow came from her clothing, mainly around her hands, where two black and yellow sticks were firmly held.

"You didn't think we would just let you go, right?" She sarcastically asked. "Well we can either-"

Before I let her finish, I turned and ran for it. I was tired, but I wouldn't let that stop me from getting to the city, as my feet pounded the root-ridden ground, her shout from behind began to fade as my focus went directly towards the faint sparkles of light, coming from both through and above the trees. _If I could just reach there,_ I thought as arrows flew past me, _I'll be in the clear, for now at least._

A arrow flew past me and into a branch, causing it to fall ahead of me. I turned to find the woman on my tail, a face of both determination and anger quickly approaching. As she went in for a strike, I summoned my blade, only for it to be swiftly knocked from my hand. The strike to my head left a ringing in my ears as I called the blade back to my hand, now successfully blocking a blow and pushing her back away from me.

Like clockwork, she took the two sticks and seemed to mash them together as they began to quickly take the shape of a bow. As it continued, she drew and fired an arrow towards me, nearly hitting me as I moved to the side. She ran to me, preparing to swing the bow at me, before my blade collided with her. It felt as though I had gone clean through her, only to see the bow divided into two.

An audible gasp came from her as she still clutched onto the pieces of the bow. I saw my opportunity, and ran, a road close to the city nearing me, as the womans shouting voice began to fade.

"You should have just let yourself die, then it would be easier for the both of us!" The anger in her voice was almost chilling as I finally stumbled onto the road, the city in sights, and the rain pouring down harder than ever. Before I could catch my breath, I felt a hand grab my shoulder, making me turn, my blade held shakily at the side of whoever was grabbing me.

A older man was there, his arms up above his head, his own look of fear filling his eyes as we stared at each other. With a sigh, I dropped my blade down allowing its tip to lie on the ground.

"I-I-I..." The man stuttered for a moment, before pausing and speaking again. "Are you... alright?"

For a moment, I was silent, as I looked around for anything that would be a threat.

 _"Yeah... I'm fine, now."_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

A Moment of Reprieve

 _"If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit."_

 _-Unknown_

* * *

I walked with the man down the road, the rain now beginning to calm. Thankfully, the rest of the walk was uneventful, only small talk between us, before parting ways as we reached the city gate.

 _Dolgow,_ I paused for a moment, pondering over my journey so far while taking in the view of the city around me. _Finally here..._ I looked down to the tattered map and looked for anything further on where to find whoever Qara wanted me to find, only to find nothing on it at all. Although discouraged, I also had a hint of carelessness. _Rest for a day, then keep looking._ That thought appealed to me, _Just a day, that's all._ I thought.

At that moment, I began to just walk aimlessly around the city, looking at the buildings that reached the sky, and the vast array of people that lived here. Some stood high above the crowd, while others couldn't help but stay close to the ground. One building, however, caught my eye, it held a sign above its door, that had no words, but instead a symbol. Two glowing red axes came together to form the outline of a heart, the faint outline of a drop of blood underneath. People wearing armor with all kinds of damage walked in and out from the building.

Curious, I followed in behind a shorter person who had a shortened mace attached to her side. As I walked in, I watched as a elven-looking man was tossed over the edge of what looked to be a raised hexagon platform before hitting the padded ground. On his armor, faint sparks could be seen that soon stopped as he got back up to his feet.

"Fair game man, fair game." He said as he got back onto the platform, before shaking the other mans hand.

"What is this place?" I asked aloud, a man turned around from a group he was talking with to face me, as gruff yet kind voice came from his bearded face.

"It's the Bleeding Heart, they got training for all your competition needs. Pretty popular this time of year with the Gala happening tomorrow and everything."

"What's a Gala?" I asked, the man took a step to a board and pointed at a large, blue flier. I stepped towards it, and read:

 ** _..._**

 **Attention!**

The 47th Gala will be happening tomorrow at noon at the city's newly finished Hexa-gala at the center of Dolgow.  
We _will_ be having a wild card tournament to fill _two_ slots in the final tournament, so be sure to apply before then if you want to have a chance at making your form of magic the victor this year!

 _Past Victors:  
46th - Dark  
45th - Nature  
44th - Water  
43rd - Light_

 ** _..._**

"Huh..." I muttered to myself, grabbing a flier and walking back outside, shoving the paper into a pocket. I continued my wandering as the day continued, looking through different stores and buildings, just to appreciate it all. As the night began to envelop the city, the streets beginning to die down, and the stores closed, I knew that I needed some rest after both the long travel to Dolgow, and from the encounter I had with both Merand, and the woman.

For a moment, it reminded me of what Jinn told me, before sending me off.

 _"...the world is about to face off one of, if not its greatest threats..."_

Something about that reminded and confused me as to why I'm here, not only to help Charlie, but to help save the rest of the world. Dolgow, the rest of Fanto, hell, _everything_ was in jeopardy. Other than why I was here, I couldn't help but ask myself questions. Who or what was this threat Jinn talked about? How would I find Charlie Kyle, and what makes him so important in all of this? These were all questions about my journey, but one question, unrelated to Fanto, was one that had stayed in my mind ever since I started this whole journey with Vade and Jinn.

 _Would I ever find out something about myself?_

* * *

Dan, Bruce, and the rest of us entered the meeting hall, slowing down to see that Charlie and Eve were left amazed at the large yet intricate design of the enormous interior. Even with the carpet, faint echoes could be heard as we walked towards a stairwell leading upwards.

"The William's up here in the discussion room, I think he'll be... eager... to see you two, Charlie and Eve." Bruce said as he began to ascend, us following right behind.

"Alright," A hint of reluctance was in Eve's voice as he responded. "I just... find it odd that someone we've never heard of wants to meet us. I mean, we were in that forest for practically our entire lives."

"I understand your concerns," The comforting tone of Bruce continued as he reached the top of the steps, "But I assure you, he only wants to know about anything regarding Aura that he doesn't already know about, which already isn't much."

"Well, I guess we'll help as much as we can," Charlie's confident voice coming from behind us.

"That's the way to look at it!" Bruce responded as he halted at a doorway, standing to the side to allow us to walk through the door. "After you..." He said with a cunning smirk.

Dan and I pushed the two doors open to reveal what looked to be a meeting table, which was surrounded by chairs that were all neatly tucked into the table. The carpet inside was a deep blue, much like that of Charlie's blade. Seated at the end of the table, were two men, one who wore a deep maroon jacket with an accent of gold around the inside of the vest. The other man stood next to him, instead of sitting, but he was still the same height, even while the other was seated at the table. His large and _very_ notable ginger beard covered over half of his visible face, the other of which was covered by a horned helmet made of a silvery metal.

As Charlie and Eve stepped into the room ahead of us, Bruce spoke.

"You two, I would like you both to meet William Riker and his closest companion, Skilod Hendrew." Bruce walked to the side of who I could only assume to be William, before William himself spoke up to us.

"Welcome everyone, please, you may all grab a seat." William spoke, his appealing tone drawing us towards our chairs. As we took our seats, he continued. "Now that you're here, I'm going to give it to you straight-" He began, before Skilod, under his ginger beard, loudly interrupted.

"We're going to make you fight to the _death_ with a bloody load of other people!" His loud voice filled the room, but was dwindled once William stared his own friend down with a look of burning rage.

"You bloke! You fucked it up! I was going to ease it in with everything else but you _just had_ to ruin it!" He shouted, as his friend laughed away, almost as quickly as the professional atmosphere that just left the room.

"Oh man!" Skilod laughed, ignoring his friends shouting and swearing. "The looks on you two's faces, bloody brilliant!"

"Woah woah woah," Eve nervously asked, "What exactly do you mean when you say 'fight to the death'?"

"No!" William, still angry, nearly shouted, "It's not like that- well it is but- GAH!" He shouted to himself. "You always do this to me, every fucking time!" He exclaimed towards the still snickering Skilod. Before William continued, he seemed to stop for a moment, gathering his thoughts, before sighing and continuing.

"I assume that you all know about the Gala right?" He asked, watching as we all nodded in response. "Good. Every year, the city of Dolgow is the host of a Gala by the same name. People from all across Fanto come to compete, most are the best of the best, and each team, represented by it's form of Aura use, fights against each other simultaneously, and the winner is crowned the Aura Champion for the next year, until the next Gala."

"We know that already," Charlie spoke out, now being the one interrupting. "But why do you want _us_ to be a part of it?"

"Because of _that_ ," William replied as he motioned to Charlie's back, his crystalline blade faintly glowing. " _That_ is something that we have neither heard of, nor seen until this past week when Dan informed us of you two. We aren't going to dissect you or anything like that, but instead observe how you, your blade, and other Aura users react to it, and after the tournament, we'll ask a few questions, then that will be the end of it."

"See? You didn't need to butter them up before breaking the news." Skilod said with a wide grin.

"Because _you_ told them _immediately_ , you dick!" He quickly snapped at him, before turning back to Charlie.

"So, Charlie, what do you say?"

"Sure," He replied crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.

"Good, and you, Eve?"

Eve, slightly unnerved, replied, "I think that..." She trailed off for a moment, "There are more people that could do a better job than me, sorry." She apologized.

"That's fine, you have until tomorrow to decide, if you change your mind, give me a shout. But for now, I think that you've all had a rough day, so rest up, and we can take care of this in the morning, I already have a place set for you all."

Without chit-chat, we got up and went to rest, anticipating what tomorrow would hold.

* * *

A man stood in a large control room, monitors up at both desks and the furthermost wall. Each monitor carrying its own set of information towards one specific person. Her face was put up at the large monitor, centralized on the wall. Her dim yellow eyes on her expressionless face stared off into nothing, the strands of brown hair almost obscuring her vision.

"Sir?" The man was cut off from deep though, as another man wearing a gray coat drew his attention. "We have an update on the _project._ "

"Good, may I see them?"

He seemed reluctant to answer, almost as if something was wrong.

"Let me correct myself, _show me._ " He spoke with a more dominating tone.

"R-right this way." The man with his gray coat nervously reacted, walking quickly, his higher up following shortly behind. They walked out of the room and through a long corridor, lit brightly by several overhead lights. Neither said anything as they reached a door, the gray coat moving to the side, allowing his higher up to barge in, causing all the small talk to quickly pause.

"What _happened?_ " He demanded, one of the workers jumping up to reply.

"We got reports that a... civilian came across one of our operating bases." He firmly spoke.

"And they took care of it, _right?_ " He asked, anger slowly bubbling in his voice.

"Well..." He trailed off, before the man quickly moved to him, pinning to him to the wall.

"You have five damn seconds to tell me what the hell is going on before I get someone to turn you into paint on the wall."

"M-merand went out a-and tried to take him out, but-"

" _But?_ " He nearly shouted, rage fuming from his face

"B-but he managed to slip away,"

"Then send someone after him dammit!" He angrily shouted, letting the man go from the wall.

"O-one more t-thing Sir," The other worker stammered, his higher-ups eyes quickly shooting towards him with an almost death-glare. "H-he managed to steal the Umbrella."

" _What?"_ The question pierced the room as he stormed over towards a hand held monitor, picking it up and staring at two blinking dots, before angrily throwing it towards the wall.

"Find this guy now. I _won't_ let a simple... mistake, jeopardize _everything_ we've worked for." He angrily shouted, before storming outside. Shortly after, the gray coat walked out, looking back to the other two.

"I'll make the call." He said, before walking out.


	8. Chapter 8

_Hello everyone! I haven't put down an author's note in a while, so hopefully if you're still reading this, you'll write down a review of what you think, or maybe send me a PM if you want to chat! But nonetheless, onwards to Chapter 8!_

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Tell Me What's on Your Mind

 _"The universe doesn't give you what you ask for with your thoughts - it gives you what you demand with your actions."_

 _― Steve Maraboli_

* * *

The morning after I arrived at Dolgow was uneventful. Once I finished my breakfast, I headed back out into the streets. For a morning hour, the street was tightly crowded, as people all seemed to be making their way to whatever daily routine they had planned.

I, for once, didn't want to tale part in it, as I still wanted to rest after what happened yesterday. From my side, I grabbed onto the umbrella, and observed it. Its design was simple, a trigger would pop out from the handle, which when pulled,caused three lights close to it to slowly start glowing. A button at the end would simply open up the umbrella. A logo was engraved on the inside of head of the umbrella, the same one that Merand guy had on his vest. Looking closer, I noticed something different on the logo. A dim red light flickered from the logo, as if it was low on power.

Suddenly, I felt something prod me in the back. Before I could turn to look, a low-toned voice came from behind.

"Don't say anything or I'll leave you to bleed on street."

Without a word, I felt him move me up to my feet and began moving with the crowd. We walked through without stop, until we reached a building that wore a _**VACANT**_ sign on its front door.

"What do you want with me?" I asked, as we entered a elevator. The man seemed to hold his response, instead walking to the elevator controls and selecting a floor.

"You know, you've got to be the first person to find out about us in a _looong_ time." He said, holding a toothed blade closely to me. The doors closing behind him as a simple tune came through the speakers.

The doors opened quickly, a ring signaling that we arrived. The floor was vacant, aside from the small group of people standing around staring at us. They all wore the same black uniform, a now familiar logo on the shoulder of each person.

I was brought to a nearby window, left to stare out until a familiar person walked beside me, staring at what appeared to be the Gala.

"The Gala," she began, "I always managed to see it, no matter what might be in the way." She reached to my side, nearly tearing the umbrella off of me. "You've been in my way for this, though I will give you credit, I was impressed how you managed to nab one of our most prized weapons and that quick move to mine was very clever."

She stopped talking for a moment to take the umbrella and place it into a briefcase, when suddenly, the somewhat distant sound of an announcer for the Gala boomed from below.

"Attention to everyone attending the Gala, we will be starting in five minutes, so be ready to enjoy the show!" The announcement echoed.

I couldn't help but chuckle for a moment. "You know, I was hoping to be there to watch it."

The woman looked at me with a small smirk. "Don't worry, after we finish talking here, I plan to see you reach the ground before the rest of us."

My heart sank as I glanced back outside, looking down at the drop below, but quickly a more nervous chuckle came from me, the woman looking at me with an almost angering look. "You think that's funny?"

"No, not actually, I just plan on going down there to see the Gala as well," I said as I summoned my blade to my hand, everyone surrounding me quickly began to draw their weapons.

 _"I just don't see us watching it together, that's all."_

* * *

I woke up to the sound of someone rustling in their bed, causing me to sit up, rubbing my eyes as they adjusted to the room that William had so courteously set for us. I looked to the bed across from me to see Eve, sitting up in her bed, a blurry look of distress on her face. Before I could say anything to her, the door opened to a blinding light, Dio standing at the door.

"Are ya two up yet?" His own tired voice spoke as a yawn came from him. "We have to get going."

Without a word from either of us, we began to get our stuff together, before heading over to meet again with William. I couldn't help but notice how nervous Eve acted as we made our way to the Gala. The whole city seemed to be in the celebratory mood for the Gala. I hadn't gone to see the event take place in a while, so it was a refreshing sight. Eve, however, still looked distressed over... something.

"You noticed it too huh?" Dan, from my side, spoke.

"Hey, Eve?" I couldn't help but call her out. She quickly darted her vision towards me.

"What is it?" She replied, attempting to play it off casually.

"You've been acting... _strangely_ , are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm... I'm fine. Just had a rough night."

"What made it so rough?"

"Nothing important," She started, before giving a sigh. "Just- I'm fine, you don't need to worry about it."

"Alright, let's get back with the rest of the group then."

"Sure..."

The rest of the walk through the Gala was uneventful until we reached the Arena. A thick crowd filled the surrounding area near the entrance, locked doors and security stopping them from entering. Thankfully, Siklod was there to let us in past the guards and into the seating area where William stood waiting for us.

"Ah, good to see you all today, and you Charlie, how are you?" He introduced, mainly focusing on Charlie.

"I'm fine," Charlie replied.

"Good, good. And you, Eve?"

Eve, however, did not respond, she was gazing up towards some of the buildings that were above the skyline of the arena, piercing high into the sky.

"Eve?" William raised his voice, causing Eve to snap out of whatever daydream she could be on.

"Y-yes?" She stuttered a response, causing William to eye her with a strange look.

"Is... she alright?" He whispered to Dan, hoping that Eve wouldn't hear.

"I'm fine! Alright?" She irritatedly replied. "I just had a rough night and-" She paused, looking back to the a set of buildings.

"Allllright then," William slowly replied, before looking back to Charlie. "Anyways, in an hour, we will begin to bring in viewers from the city to come and enjoy the main event, where you and eight other magic users will face off, first with a challenge revolving around your use of magic, and then against each other. The last one to remain on the center platform will be the winner. Easy as that. Now remember one thing, we will be observing you while you and the other contestants fight, so be sure to give it all you got."

"Okay, will I get to meet these contestants?" He asked.

"Ah, yes, if you come with me I can-" William started, before Eve muttered something unintelligible.

 _"Above..."_

"Eve?" Charlie turned, looking to his friend. She, however, was fixated yet again at the buildings above us.

"Hey! Eve?" I raised my voice to her as I stood beside her, but to no avail.

 _"is... a simple piece..."_ She muttered. _"with... no part..."_

"What are you talking about?" Charlie said, both worried and confused. "Answer me!"

I couldn't help but look to the sky, trying to find what exactly she was so fixated on, only to stare at a glass building, with what appeared to be a group of people inside. Ready to look back to Eve and figure out her problem, the sound of distant glass breaking, along with the sight of a man being violently thrown from a window.

 _"that... can make... all... the difference."_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, this story is about to reach it's 10th Chapter! I know that most of the readers may not know some of the context behind this story, so once Chapter 10 is posted, I plan on answering some of those questions in a separate *chapter*! So if any of you have questions that **you** might want to ask, just put it either in a review, or PM me! Enjoying the story is enough for me, but a like or a follow would be appreciated! Anyways, on with the chapter!_

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

Close to the Edge

 _"You only become a winner if you're willing to go over the edge."_

 _-Damon Runyon_

* * *

The five of them stood around me, weapons raised and ready to strike if I made any moves. "You know," I began with a smirk, "I don't think I've been introduced to you guys yet. I'd really appreciate the welcome."

"You know what," The brown haired woman replied, "I'll play ball with you. It's Feuix, and we're- no- _I'm_ here to take care of you after what you did to our... _test._ "

"That Merand guy? And what about you and your weapon?"

She burrowed her eyes with an upset look, before looking at the other four. "Block the entrances, make sure no one comes in _or leaves_ until I'm done here." Without a word, the four seemed to disperse to both the way up and down. "I've introduced myself, I believe that common courtesy would have you do the same."

"I'm glad to see you want a fair fight, huh?" I replied, "And it's Ender, Ender Finis."

"Well, Ender, I hope to exceed where Merand failed." She finally spoke, placing her hand on the case that held the umbrella. "By killing you and getting this thorn out of our side before it gets any worse." She reached to her sides, grabbing what looked to be the weapon she had used earlier, a clear cut on each where it originally connected.

"We'll, seeing how I managed to stay at it for this long, why not? It's not like I have a choice..." I said, taking my blade and throwing it directly to the case, knocking the umbrella from its case, and onto the floor in front of the way down. Feuix dashed to me, her blades moving faster than I could describe, but she didn't appear to be ready to strike, not yet. Before I could call my blade back to me, I felt someone grab me from behind and throw me towards the glass wall, the sounds of cracking glass making my heart sink for a moment.

"I must warn you, I don't play by the rules." She said, one of the men from earlier turning me around and making me face her.

"Neither do I," I said, feeling the blade come back to my hand as I managed to free my hand and slash at the man holding me. Before he could recover, I pushed him to the glass wall, creating a terrifying yet satisfying sound of the glass breaking as he fell from the building.

She seemed to have a look of concern for the man who fell, a look of almost worry on her face for a moment, before anger set in again. If she didn't strike hard enough, her strikes now felt they could break bones with ease. With a kick to her legs, I found a opportunity as she lay on the ground. I began a strike to her, before the swift motion of one of her blades grazed my leg.

As I back away for a moment, regaining myself, she managed to get to her feet as well. The both of us awaited a strike from the other for what felt like an eternity, until I threw my blade again towards her. Making a quick retreat downstairs, managing to snatch the umbrella along with me.

"Downstairs!" I heard her shout as I made it to the floor below us. Footsteps began to hastily climb up from under me, and then, _fighting?_ But rather than investigate, I took the time to find another way down, not knowing what would be waiting for me below. I looked around the floor I was on, barging through doors only to find empty spaces that appeared to be under construction. One of the rooms, thankfully, appeared to be finished, along with an outside balcony.

Quickly rushing out, I looked around, noticing an outside fire exit that, although looked yet to be finished, had a clear and easy jump to a nearby rooftop that would hopefully lead me to safety. Taking a chance, and the sounds of footsteps continuing upwards, I took a leap and plummeted down to the stairwell, knocking me to the ground and leaving me dazed for a moment.

I had to take a moment after the jump, adrenaline still pumping through me. From above, I could see a man staring down at me with his red eye, a matching rag that covered the other. I got back up to my feet, the man threw what looked to be a set of darkened throwing knives. I attempted to move to the side and out of his view, the feeling of one of the knives impaling me in the shoulder.

 _"He's going for the other roof!"_ I heard the man shout. As I found myself out of his view.

I went to grab the blade and pull it out, only to look as nothing was left but the cut. _Must have fallen out._ I thought to myself, before climbing down another floor, finding that whoever had impaled me had now vanished from above, allowing me to make the leap across without issue. I looked towards the roof access and went to open the door, until the door swung open, revealing someone on the other side.

From the door came someone who looked to work with Feuix. She held a smaller and darker umbrella in her hand, one that resembled the one on my back. She wore what looked to be a blackened jumpsuit like Feuix's companions had, aside from the shiny, metallic plate on her side. Along with her uniform, she wore a glare that reminded me of Merand, except, something was... _different._ It was almost as if she wanted to protect someone more than just taking me out. But it didn't matter, as it appeared that either way, it looked like we were going to fight.

"So, how is this fight going to play out? You gonna be cocky like Merand or over-aggressive like Feuix? I'm really getting tired of this in all honesty though." I inquired, and in response, she stared back, confusion in her eyes as her blackened brow tilted.

"Listen, I don't know what you're on about, but let's just get down, talk about the _body_ that you or your colleagues just threw _out of a window,_ and _then_ you can start asking questions." She held out her weapon with one hand, ready to defend. In response, I summoned my blade, holding out, ready to strike.

 _"Why do you guys always make this hard?"_ She muttered with a sigh.

* * *

 **-=Earlier=-**

We all stood in shock for a moment, the sounds of screaming coming from outside the arena's seating. Eve was still motionless, staring to the now broken window, where what looked to be two people discussing, before running away from the window. We began making our way to the exit that lead outside, before William spoke from behind.

Dan turned to the five of us with a look of urgency, and his voice only fueled it. "Alright, Cole and Maeve, take the lower floors of the building, Charlie, Obsi, and I will take the streets, making sure everyone's fine."

"Charlie!" William shouted from behind us, he was standing in front of Eve, while Siklod was snapping his fingers next to Eves ear. "See if you can get her to come to."

Charlie looked reluctant, looking back to us.

"We'll be fine Charlie, just make sure Eve is alright." I said to him, before the four of us began to make our way out to the crowd.

"Cole and I are going in," Maeve shouted to us as the two began to cautiously enter the building.

Everyone was backed away from... the body other than a guard who was hopelessly inspecting the body. "Does anyone know who went into that building?" Dan asked as he motioned to the entrance of the under-construction hotel complex. A few from the crowd replied with nothing but shaking heads, while others seemed too fazed to reply.

"None of the civilians saw anything other than the guy falling out the window." The guard finally replied, standing up and looking sorrowfully at the body. "Backup is coming as soon as they can, you know how crowded Dolgow gets on a day like this."

Looking at the man, he was most certainly dead, but that wasn't what made chills go down my body. _It wasn't the same logo right?_ I thought to myself, getting closer to the body to observe. _The umbrella, the six lines, it couldn't be anything else._ Perhaps instinctively, I stepped away from the body for a moment, Dan, noticing that something was off with me. "Hey, something you noticed?"

I was about to lie my way through, before the sound of metal thrashing about from above drew the whole crowds view. There, at least five floors up on a fire exit, stood a man cloaked in white. Adjacent from him stood Cole, who stood on what looked to be a mostly finished balcony. He stared him down before throwing a set of black knives at the man. The cloaked man hid himself behind the wall for a moment before moving down a floor before making a jump to the building ahead of him.

"He's going for the other roof!" Cole shouted as he came from a lower balcony, trying to see if he could get a better throw.

"I'll see if there's a way to the roof, you take care of it here Dan." I quickly spoke before sprinting to the door, not even giving Dan a chance to reply. I burst through the doors, to find a small group of people peering outside at the commotion. I ran past them and to what I could assume to be the service elevator that read: **OUT OF ORDER**.

I looked around, before taking the stairwell that lead to the roof. I nearly tripped myself as I reached the roof access, before swinging the door open, revealing the exhausted man on the other side. He stood close to me, a umbrella placed on his back. Blood , revealing a long, dark, violet stripe from the dirtied shirt he wore underneath. A brown strap going across which appeared to be from a separate bag. He stared me down with an almost glowing pair of purple eyes before speaking.

"So, how is this fight going to play out? You gonna be cocky like Merand or over-aggressive like Feuix? I'm really getting tired of this in all honesty though." He asked, looking as if I knew how to respond.

"Listen, I don't know what you're on about," I began, "but I think that if we head back on down and talk about the _body you or your colleague_ just threw from a window, _then_ you can start asking questions." I held out my umbrella, in case he was going to try anything. _I need to find out what he knows about them..._ I thought to myself as I cautiously waited for the man to reply. Instead, a blade suddenly formed in his hand as he prepared to strike.

I was surprised by the sudden appearance of a weapon, but quickly regained my composure, before replying. "Why do you guys always make this hard?"

 _One way or another, I was going to find answers._

* * *

 _A/N: And that's it for this chapter! Remember to put in a question if you have one, and have a great Thanksgiving! (If you celebrate it, that is.)_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome back to A Prelude to Rise! For the people who have been following this story, I want to apologize for the over-one-month absence. I got sick, lost interest in the story, worked on a few personal projects, and now I'm back! Did you miss me? Anyways, I mentioned last chapter that I would answer any questions that you might have about the story, but due to the lack of questions, I won't be doing that. However, PM me if you have any questions, I'm open... most of the time. Anyways, without further adieu, Chapter 10!_

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

Reunion

 _"Where there is unity, there is victory."_

 _-Publilius Syrus_

 **Music: fox capture plan - Butterfly Effect**

* * *

 _(Ender's POV)_

To be honest with myself, I was tired, my body longed for a bed, couch- Hell, even the floor would satisfy me, but here I am facing someone who's probably out for my blood.

Without word, I took a swing a the violet-eyed woman. In a quick response, the canopy on her umbrella shot open, clashing with my oncoming blade. She shoved forwards, knocking back my blade and hitting me square in the face. I felt like I had spun around for an hour, and my vision didn't help in the slightest. With a hard blow from her umbrella into my side, I fell down to the floor, my head knocking against the hard floor of the roof, and surprisingly fixing my vision. I attempted to take a swing, but she lunged atop me, pinning down my arm and tried to hold me down.

"Hey! I got one up here guys, hurry bef-" She began to shout to what I could only assume to be her companions, but at this point, I just had to get out of this conflict, and quick. I summoned my blade to my other hand, and took a hard swing at her hand, managing to knock the umbrella from her. She quickly ran to retrieve her weapon, and I took my chance to head down the roof access and escape.

My body ached, my sword, which normally felt almost weightless, now felt light a burden in my hand, but with every ounce of strength in me, I continued to make my way down the stairwell. From behind, I could hear footsteps of the woman rushing after me, and I knew that she was gaining. As I reached to bottom of the first stairway, I turned around and swung, the woman managed to duck out from the strike, causing me to lodge the blade into a wall.

"Forget it..." I muttered angrily as I ran off, leaving my sword in the wall. I looked back for a moment, and thankfully, she had been taken aback by the fact that I left my weapon behind, but thankfully I still had the...

 _Fuck..._ I looked down at the ground and lo and behold, the umbrella lay between the both of us. We eyed each other for a moment, before she began to charge towards the umbrella. I did the same, about to tackle her when she ducked to the side and tripped me onto the floor.

A struggle began between the both of us as we both tried to pry the umbrella from the others hands, until the woman curled her legs and kicked be backwards onto my back, forcing the air out from my lungs. The woman slowly rose, her breathing slowing down as what I could only assume to be adrenaline still flowed through her. As I struggled to get up, she placed a foot onto my chest, to the point where I was pinned down. She then took her umbrella and held it close to me before speaking.

"I'm going to give you _one_ chance to answer my question. _Who. The Hell. are you?_ " Her voice was demanding as she spoke, a mix of both anger and caution filled in as well.

"Listen..." I began, accepting what would _probably_ happen soon enough. "You guys... have sent... people to kill me... THREE times!... and you _still_ expect me to... tell you who I am?"

Her face went from anger to confusion, she began to observe the umbrella as she held her own close to my neck. "I... don't get what you-" She seemed to have noticed something and stepped back, a sudden gasp coming from her. I managed to sit up and look up to my opponent to see that she was... teary eyed? I was taken aback by it, but a tear rolled down her cheek as she continued to stare at me. "Y-...you got out too?" She almost choked out.

For a moment, I couldn't reply as I breathed heavily, still surprised at the sudden end to our fight. "What do... you mean?"

She took the umbrella and, with no time at all, pushed the button at the bottom of the handle, opening it. She pointed to the insignia on the canopy and spoke to me. "From _them..._ "

"Yeah..." was all that I could muster, before slowly, and sorely, rising to my feet.

Without a word, she rushed over to me and helped me to my feet. Her gaze now filled with compassion and caution. "We can't talk here. They still might be after you, but once we get back with my friends, we can talk in a more... secure place."

I simply replied with a nod, before walking alongside my quickly turned companion. We began to make our way out of the building, a small crowd of people gathered not too far from the building. They all appeared to gather around the man who I had knocked out of the window. I could have cared less about him at this moment, besides, he was dead, what more could I or anyone do.

Suddenly, from the crowd, the black clothed man emerged, along with a woman of similar appearance. "Obsi, what the _hell_ are you doing?" He asked, a mix of anger and confusion was all over him, however, he kept his weapon held to his side.

"This guy isn't who we're looking for." She replied in protest.

"What do you mean? He _threw_ a guy _out of a building_." The woman held tightly onto a dagger, a black flame emitting from it.

The woman, who I assumed to be Obsi, darted her eyes across the surrounding area, before moving and dragging me with her. "Not here," She began, "We have to get out of sight... or the open at least."

"Guys!" A bearded man wearing a black and green uniform sputteredas he stopped in front of us. "It's Eve, William took her and Charlie to the main medical center of this city. She's fallen unconscious apparently and they've gone to figure out what's wrong with her."

"Well lets figure out what Obsi's doing with the guy who-" The man said as he adjuated a red cloth that covered his eye. The bearded man interjected before he could finish.

"Just take him with us," He spoke, waving his hand and motioning to follow. "Besides, you can get your answers once we get to Charlie and Eve."

 _Could it be-_ I began to think, recalling how Vade mentioned some called _Chalrie Kyle_... However, I decided to hold my mouth. Besides, rambling about who sent me would only make me sound crazy. We began to move with to the hospital, the eyes of the dark clothed man and woman were locked onto me. Inside, we ran across a short, red-bearded man which everyone around me seemed to recognize.

"Siklod, where did they take Eve?" Obsi questioned.

With a stroke of his beard, he motioned us to follow him. "They took her to one of the rooms, I think Charlie should be waiting outside... there!" He pointed tothe end of the hall, where a blue-clothed man stood, a glowing crystaline blade loked out from the strap on his back.

"Ey, how's she doing Charlie?" The red-haired man asked, peering through the glass window. William and two others stood at a bed where a almost golden-haired woman layed. They seemed to be discussing something, but all that I could make out was muffled speech.

"I don't know, but from the lack of people freaking out, I think she'll be fine... atleast I _hope_ she'll be fine." He leaned back onto the wall and crossed his arms as he replied. Concern was the only thing I could read from him, and all of it was directed towards who I pressumed to be Eve. He _was_ focused on her, until he notice me. "Who's he?"

She took a moment to respond, perhaps this whole ordeal was still on her mind, or she may just be suspicious of me still. "Well... once we get him patched up, I hope that we could _find that out_."

* * *

 _(Obsi's FOV)_

Nothing but one fact raced through my mind as I helped patch up this guy.

 _I wasn't the only one..._

I mean, he looked to be like me. His eyes were almost the same violet as mine, _and_ he had the umbrella with... _that_ insignia on it. But no matter what, I had to be sure.

"Hey," I began to the nurse that was helping me, she tightened a bandage around the mans shoulder, before looking up to me. "Can I... speak with him in private?"

A simple 'Sure' came from her as she began to walk out, and closed the door behind her. I turned back to see him loosen the bandage slightly, tugging at it for a moment.

"So... do you have a name?" I watched as he brought his attention to me.

"Ender... Ender Finis." He replied, before watching his eyes drift to the door. I turned and saw a quick glance of Charlie, before he moved out from view. "So, who's the guy in blue?"

I turned back to him, and watched as he leaned back into the chair. "Charlie? We found him in the Aura Forrest along with that blond woman, Eve. Apparently, they've been growing up there for their whole lives. You've probably noticed the sword he has, right?" I paused for a moment and awaited a nod, which I quickly received. "Anyways, that is _pure_ Aura Crystal, and it is _nothing_ like we've ever seen. We _were_ going to watch a tournament that was planned in order to study how he and his weapon might react around other Aura users. That _was,_ until you showed up. But the good news is, the tournament is going to start in a couple days, being postponed by both you and..." I had to pause for a moment, I had almost forgotten _why_ he was here, and now, I had to find some answers. "...those guys back there, what did they want with you?"

Ender sat for a moment, before his mouth opened to form a reply. "I ran into them a while back, and ever since I got away from them- and ever since I got here, to Fanto, I had only one goal. That goal was to find someone and I think that _he,_ " He began, emphasizing by motioning to the door. "may be the one that I've been looking for."

I was intrigued by his interest in Charlie, peering over to see nobody looking through the door. "So what you're saying is... they wanted you to kill him?"

A look of confusion, then one of almost offensiveness, swept over his face. "No, no, no; I wasn't sent by them to kill _anybody_ , I swear. I was just sent to _find_ him."

"Who sent you to find him?"

Ender raised his hand to his neck and began to rub it. " _Thaaaat's_ a little hard to explain, but what I _can_ tell you is that someone, or some _thing_ is coming, and I'm supposed to help him, and I guess you guys as well. To make sure that he succeeds in doing so."

I almost let out a laugh, but managed to restrain myself, to Ender's notice.

A sigh came from him as he irritatedly responded. "I _know_ that it sounds crazy, and you guys _definitely_ won't believe me, but I want you to understand that I'm here to help you guys." He scanned the room quickly for a moment, almost disappointed that he couldn't find what he was looking for. "Where's that umbrella that I was fighting over with you about?"

"That thing? What about it."

"You can have it,"

"What? But- why- why me?" I stumbled over my words for a moment before throwing out a response.

"I got it off one of those guys that were after me a ways back, and besides him, _you're_ the only person I've seen who can use an umbrella to fight."

I had to pause for a moment, and I was about to respond, when the door opened up from behind me. I turned to see Cole, behind him was Maeve, they looked at me and eyed Ender for a second.

"Just thought I would let you know, _Eve's awake_."

* * *

 **(Eve's POV)**

 **Music: Disasterpeace - Wisdom's Tragedy**

 _Something about it left me in a trance..._ _not just the building, but something calling **from**_ _the building. That was when it all went to black, and nothing but a darkness surrounded me._

"Hello!" I screamed, my voice muffled by... who-knows-what. "Is anyone-" I began, before I felt a glow come from behind me. Turning, I saw two glowing shapes, one that glowed a bright green, and another that glowed a deep blue. I was speechless, then one of them spoke in a tone that was... indescribable.

 _I see her, the woman_ _you mean._

The other replied in words I couldn't understand.

 _Yes, she might be like the other, therefore, she might possibly be the key._

Again, as before, the other figure replied in an undecipherable language, a frantic tone backed behind it.

 _Do not worry, I know that the other can hear us and our voices, yet, she cannot see. It appears that she got your message, and quite possibly, a bit more than that._

Before I could comprehend what had been said, somehow, _all_ of my surroundings were now white, besides a dark blue shape that lay in the distance.

"Charlie?" I called out, running to the shape. As I closed in, the white began to darken and the blue began to turn a deep amethystine color. I felt my heart sink to the floor as the color reminded me of the figure that drove me and Charlie from our home. That was when a faint voice came from the distance, close to the figure ahead.

 _I understand that you have a plan... but at this rate, we will never find-_ The stern voice started to explain, doing their best to hold onto their composure, until _something_ cut it off. The deep resounding tone immediately struck fear into me.

 _My plan, with your help, will come to it's full fruition soon... I believe that to me, you are like a chess piece. Something... useful, like a knight or a... rook, something that is more valuable than a pawn, but not as valuable as a queen- no- nothing_ _like a queen. Something that you may have forgotten, is that I do not need **every** **piece** to win, and at any time, I can get rid of you, just like that._

The other voice seemed to get the threat, and his now shaky voice reflected that. _I-i-i meant no-_ Again, the deep voice cut the other off.

 _Wait, it appears... that we have a... **uninvited** guest..._

Without precedent, the purple figure quickly darted towards me, when a voice breathed onto me and whispered a simple phrase.

 _Wake... up..._

* * *

 **There we have it guys! Chapter 10! I hope that you all enjoyed, and that you all had a wonderful New Year!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Awakening, and Answering

 _"Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not."_

 _-Ursala K. Le Guin_

* * *

 _(Charlie's POV)_

In all honesty, ever since Eve and I left the forrest, things have been... _very_ eventful. From killing a giant spider queen, to watching my best friend zone out and say something cryptic about a puzzle piece or something, but looking past that, I _knew_ that whatever came for us was still out there. All these thoughts were important, but I knew that my first task was to make sure Eve would be fine.

However, when she quickly bolted upright and let out a scream of terror, I nearly stumbled back into the wall.

"Eve!" I began, my voice still shaking from her surprise awakening. "What the hell happened back there, you alright?"

She did not reply, but instead, I watched as she looked around the room frantically and a look of relief that fell onto her when she locked eyes with me. Her breaths were quick as she soon began to calm down.

"I-I-I'm sorry..." She stammered, "I-it was just that I noticed something about the building a-and it was suddenly dark an-" Eve's ramblings were cut short as William quickly approached, a look of deep concern lay on his face.

"Eve! Listen to me, I need you to calm down." He nearly raised his voice, but managed to gain her attention with ease. "I don't know what happened with you, and neither does anyone else. So once you calm down, we can figure this out." He looked over to me for a moment.

"Go and tell the others that she's up, but tell them to just wait outide in the hall."

I replied with a simple nod and went out. My first reaction was to inform Obsi, but as I peered through the door, I saw that her and the white-cloaked stranger were still talking, so I made my way down until I ran into Dio, Cole, and Maeve, who were all seated. They greeted me once they looked.

"Hey there lad," Dio began, "How ya holdin' up?"

"I'm... alright. Do you happen to know where Dan is?" I asked, eying the nearby people for his face.

Cole steppes forward. "He went with those guards to talk about what happened with our new... _friend_ , why? What happened?"

"I was just going to tell everyone that she's awake now and that-"

"Is she alright? Can we come see her?" Cole cut off.

Nothing but a heavy sigh came from me. " _As I was saying..._ she seems to be well, but let's not barage her with our presence."

"I'll stay behind and wait for Dan, bloke likes to take his precious time." Dio stated as he floated back down into his seat. "I'll head up with him once I tell 'em."

"Alright, well Obsi's still taking care of her... _friend_ just so you know."

Cole appeared to be visually frustrated, letting out a groan to confirm. "I just don't get it, he throws a guy off a building and _now_ he's someone Obsi knows?"

As we walked, Maeve looked at Cole. "I know it's odd and all, but she might be looking for answers just like we are." We halted at the door, looking through the glass window to see Eve laying on the bed, and William holding a clipboard in his hand.

"Well," Cole began in response, "the way she's doing it is only making me ask _more_ questions." He turned to the room Obsi was in and opened the door, leaning in. _"Just thought I would let you know, Eve's awake."_

* * *

(Obsi's POV)

Without a word, I stepped towards the door, moving past Cole and Maeve to see Eve sitting up in her bed, she looked towards William, who was quickly writing on a pad as he listened to her speak. I turned back to Maeve, ready to ask how long she had been up for, before she spoke.

"I know that you have questions about her, and so do we, but I think that we need to talk about..." She turned back and peered into the room back at Ender, who was adjusting a bandage on his shoulder. " _Him..._ "

A sigh came from me, I knew I would have to answer some questions, but I didn't expect it to be so... abrupt. "Let's move to the other room." I began to step towards the door where Ender sat, only to be stopped by Cole.

"No, we're talking about it here. _Nobody_ is going _anywhere_ until you explain what's going on with him."

"Well, there's no use then..." I stated... thinking back on my time... _there._

* * *

 _I remember that... place. The white room, bright lights, the locked door, and when they came to do their... tests. I wanted nothing to do with it, yet the same thing would always happen. The doors would open to reveal a man, and sometimes a woman, who would walk slowly towards me._

"Did you rest well sweetie?" They would ask with their honeyed tone. They would walk to me, sometimes I could back away, but most times I found myself nearly unable to move, whether it be exhaustion or fear, they'd still get to me with ease, and everything would happen again. I'd wake up in that room, my body aching all over. It was almost like a dream, and the same thing would happen. Every. Single. Day.

 _Until it didn't happen._

 _That day... that was possibly one of the best of my life, and it still is today._

It started like the rest, the white room, bright lights, and so on, but when the man came in, and spilled his usual spill, a loud noise, one that I can't describe, echoed throughout the small room. The syringe in the mans hand shook and moved away from me, as he ran for the door, leaving it open and everything. I remember reaching out for the open door, but found myself passing out.

 _The next time I woke up, the familiar white room was bathed in a deep red glow. I felt more... energetic, more than I had ever been in who-knows how long._

I shakily got up to my feet, and stepped to the door and out into the unfamiliar hall that lay ahead. The door, looking back at it, looked as if something tore it straight from its hinges, and threw it _into_ the wall. I stumbled past that, and continued down the hall. Scattered across the hallway were people that I assumed were asleep at the time, but _now..._ I know that...

 _I noticed something at the end of the hall, it was a light, a bright and warm light. One that almost called out to me._

I walked through the large entryway that housed the light, and found myself outside."

* * *

I finished speaking, explaining what I thought, or more so remembered about that facility. "And that's all I can remember, from there at least..." I said, almost missing the monotone voice that came from me. Both Maeve and Cole looked at me with sympathy, Maeve began to step forwards, offering a hug, I simply held my hand out.

"My time of getting through that has ended... for now at least." I subtly motioned to Ender, who just looked out the window and down into the city. "I'm trying to figure out who he is, and how he got into this. He might have some answers that I've been looking for."

"Alright," Cole started, "Just remember that we're your friends, and if you need help with this, we'll be right there." A smirk formed on his face, along with one from Maeve. In response, I simply smirked back, and nodded.

"Right, you guys figure out what Dan's up to and what we'll be doing, I need to go find something that _might_ come in handy later." I said, walking back inside the room Ender sat in, and I looked over to the table, where the black umbrella lay.

"Is this it?" I asked, causing him to turn back to me.

* * *

 _(Feuix's POV)_

 _"That's it, the one I got off of the guy before I ran."_ The static voice caught my attention as I watched the huge screen. I noticed a worker walk up to me from my side, he seemed rushed as he walked over.

"Ma'am, most of the tracking devices weren't yet installed into the weapon, but-"

"I know about the audio tracker, now _stay quiet_ and head back to your work." With no hesitation, the man hastily walked back to his seat where a terminal lay, several readings were spread out across the screen. I sat silently, listening closely to the speaker, awaiting another sound.

 _"I heard what you said, and I'm sorry that you had to go through that."_ I heard that mans familiar voice, the one who, though so close, was almost unreachable... for the time being that is.

 _"Don't worry, after three years of searching, they have to think I'm long gone."_ The woman spoke with an unfamiliar sound, but what she said intrigued me. _Three years of searching?_ I turned back to a woman who sat in her seat.

"Get a clip of that last sentence," I said, the sound of their conversation continuing, but I didn't care. This looked to be more important for now. "Direct it to Commander Glyse."

 _"He might want to see this..."_


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the bit of a wait, but I'm back with the next chapter! If you like it, leave a review with something you'd like to see, and... who knows what may happen? Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

The Tournament (Part 1)

 _"Don't limit your challenges; challenge your limits. Each day we must strive for constant and never ending improvement."_

 _-Tony Robbins_

* * *

 _(Ender's POV)_

Obsi promptly stared at the umbrella before grasping it, and weighing it in her hands.

"You going to use it or what?" I asked.

She took a moment to reply, now looking back down at her original umbrella. "We'll see..." She looked back with a quick smirk. "For now, I'm going to see if Cole and Maeve know where Dan is now. If you're feeling up to it, you can follow along." Obsi began to step out of the room, I managed to catch a glimpse of Charlie before the door shut.

I thought about going for a moment, but, then again, I was still exhausted from what had happened, so I laid my head back on the pillow that, although was too thin, felt great against my head, and I quickly fell asleep as my eyes closed to a... _familiar_ dark place. It took me a moment to realize where I was, and a pair of familiar lights almost instinctively made me turn around to face them.

"Considering that you two brought me here, I assume it's important?" I said, facing Vade and Jin, as their green and orange hues almost appeared to mix together, creating an almost brown color.

"More than you might think." Jin said, writing a strange, unknown language into the air. The words began to glow, before taking the form of someone, Obsi Dian. "We believe that something about her is... _off_ , as you would say."

"What's wrong with that?" I asked, crossing my arms and looking over to Vade, who was now closer to me.

" _That_ is the problem, we _can't_ tell what's off about her, it appears that she would be in the same situation as you, but take that with a grain of salt, there are... some... _other..._ possibilities."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jin stepped closer as well, the two of them an equal distance away.

She smirked, almost the same way Obsi did. "We'll see..." She said, repeating Obsi's words from earlier. "But for now, until we can confirm it, try toget to know Charlies team, we'll talk again when the time calls for it..."

Our conversation was cut off by the sound of someone opening the door, and I found myself leaning up in the bed, a dark clothed woman walked through the door.

"Obsi?" I said, getting up from the bed and rubbing my sore shoulder. I turned my focus back to the woman.

"She's outside," Maeve spoke with an almost unnerved tone, "Get up, tournament's starting soon, Obsi just wanted me to come grab you."

"Alright, alright." I said, getting up and looking down at my leather satchel and wrapped it around my shoulder.

"Hey, I know that you heard us talking earlier about and... being that, whether you wanted to or not, you've opened some... old wounds from her past. I want you to promise me that whatever shit you two might get into, you'll get us." She rambled on as I put my white jacket on. I turned back to her, a smirk now forming on my face.

"We'll see about that..."

"They're down in the lobby waiting for us. Charlie went with William and Siklod to prepare for the tournament."

"With who?"

" _Right_ , we can explain on the way there."

* * *

 _(Obsi's POV)_

Outside the hospital and into the street, was what seemed to be a ocean of people, their families following, hoping to get a good seat at the Gala. Banners with the design of a night sky were scattered up and down the street, showing a sky filled with blue stars. The actual sky would soon replicate the banner as the sky was already beginning to turn a faded yellow. I could stand and admire the beauty of Dolgow, but I had to find Dan, so I could tell him about Eve.

I weaved my way through, reaching the side road near the arena that we were at a few hours ago. Although the people still continued unaffected, a semi-large area was set aside surrounding where the man had fallen; the doors blocked off by stands. Looking over, people were inside, scouring the interior for any clues or evidence that would help them find the cause to his death. A familiar, green-tied friend was speaking with a guard nearby, I began to walk over to him as it appeared that he finished talking.

"What have you been up to?" I asked Dan as he noticed me, turning his focus to me with him.

"Trying to clear up what happened earlier, how is Eve doing?" A look of sincerity lay on him when he asked.

"She's awake, and up and about. I think William and his... _short_ companion took Charlie to the arena to prepare, and I just wanted to make sure that you were fine here."

"Well, besides having no clue who our fallen mystery-man is, they have nothing." He said, staring down at the outline of where the man landed.

"What did she mean..." I puzzled.

"By...?"

"When Eve was... in whatever zone she was in, she kept mumbling something about a 'simple piece' or something, what do you think she meant?"

"No clue, but Maeve and Dio have mentioned she's acted a bit... odd."

"Hopefully, whatever it is, it fixes itself."

"Yeah..."

We were left in silence for a moment before a thought ran back through me.

"We should probably group back with everyone else, the Gala should be starting pretty soon."

Without a reply, Dan and I began our way back, excited to forget about our journey so for, if but for a moment.

* * *

 _(Nobody's POV)_

The arena was filled to the brim, a orchestra of voices ringing off the walls and into the night sky, where the stars began to glimmer blue. Suddenly, spotlights focused towards the center, where a burgundy coated man and his short, red-haired companion stood. The crowd, although large, quickly began to quiet down, awaiting for him to speak as he leaned into a microphone.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, and everyone here _and_ away, we come together, like every other year, to celebrate both the discovery and advancement of Fanto. On this day, fourty-seven years ago, we discovered a... _magic_ that flows through all of us called Aura, and this year, at the Gala, we will find which of our contestants will take the title of 'Gala's Finest'."

William began to step away from the center while Siklod stayed behind, a microphone was held close to his bearded face.

"Seeing as a lot of 'ya know how this goes, I'll keep it short. These eight will duke it out until one is left, each of them are specialized with one of the eight main forms of magic. That's pretty much it to be honest..." He let out a hearty chuckle. "unless you want to talk about one of the eight, _he's_ bloody somethin' else if I have to say, but you'll all see shortly." With that, the dwarf made his way off the stage, the lights in the center quickly faded, leaving the entire stadium in darkness.

Slowly, to a point that was almost entirely unoticeable, eight lights faintly shone, until, one by one, they began to glow.

 _White, to symbolize light._

 _Light_ _Blue, symbolizing water._

 _Red, signifying fire._

 _Green, resembling nature._

 _Grey, to resemble the wind._

 _Dark Violet, to signify darkness._

 _Deep Blue,_ _to represent pure Aura._

"Gentlemen..." Williams voice bommed through the speakers. "May the fight for 'Gala's Finest' begin!


	13. Chapter 13

_We're back with another chapter! I'm glad to see some more reviews, especially from NellieEllie. I'll fix them when I get the chance and hopefully, as time progresses, more will make sense! Anyways, on with Chapter 13!_

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

The Tournament (Part 2)

 _"Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them."_

 _-Leo Rosten_

* * *

 _(Nobody's POV)_

 **Music: Forecast - Darren Korb**

From each light, a figure raised. Each of them wore a set of armor, a colored after their aura respectively. They all began to charge towards each other, quick gestures leading to flurries of magic, mixes of all forms of aura, almost looking like an abstract art piece. The first person to be knocked aside had green accents on her armor, she rolled and slid off the stage, where she stumbled to her feet.

 _"Bloody hell!"_ The announcement speakers sizzled to life as Siklod's voice came through. _"We've just started and the Nature team's already lost their fighter!"_

 _"That means it's time for a change of scenery!"_ Williams voice came through alongside Siklod, the ground of the stage began to change, the smooth ground began to crack and blacken, underneath were flames, almost resemblant of the lava of a volcano. Surprisingly, the entire arena seemed to heat up with the platforms change.

"This is more like it!" The man clad in red armor almost shouted with delight. Around his hand was a bracelet, a small, ruby-colored crystal was embedded in the golden ring as it began to glimmer. With a swift hand motion, fire began to... well... _fire_ at the other contestants. Charlie, who wore a deep blue on his armor, held out his crystalline blade to block some of the fire as he began to sidestep, doing his best to avoid the hot flames. The man stopped his barrage of flames for a moment, allowing Charlie to continue his advance.

Blemishes of ash dotted Charlie as he lowered his blade, otherwise, he appeared to be unscathed. Charlie began a lone charge towards the man in red, not noticing the red tint his blade had acquired. Before he could get close to the man, a flash of light struck the opponent, causing him to fly off the stage. A woman with a pure white on her armor. Held firmly in her hands was a bow that glowed with a yellow tint, the rest of the light being soaked by the bow's black limbs. Charlie charged at the woman, attempting at sending a blow directly at the contestant. As he struck, a quick burst of flame came from the sword, before it turned back to the deep blue tint. The flame faded, revealing the woman blocking Charlie's strike with her bow, before sidestepping and snapping the bow in two, revealing two blades.

Something about this woman, however, was familiar... but a flurry of light surrounded her, blocking her from sight as the two blades pulsed from their yellow lights. She charged at Charlie, a barrage of light attacks slowly pushing him back lest he fall backwards. Her mixture of moves ended with a heavy strike, leaving a stalemate between the two as they pushed their blades against one another, awaiting for one of them to falter. The two keep their eyes locked, until the wind around them began to pick up, pushing against the two.

To the side, where a elven man stood, moving his hands in the air, as if moving something heavy. The wind began to pick up before Charlie and the woman set aside their duel for a moment, both of them hoping to eliminate another competitor. Charlie, by this time, started to pick up on what his blade could do, looking at it with its grayish-blue tint. With a swing, almost as if he knew, a condensed gust of wind began to cut through, nearly hitting the elf before he dodged out of the way, only to be knocked off the stage by the bow-wielding woman.

 _"That's two more folks! Time for another change!"_

The crowd at this point was wild. Like every year, they expected a intense and suspenseful fight, and that was what they were getting. The stage began to cool, before springs of water began to envelop the fires of the arena. A slightly knocked up dwarf with a light blue covering his armor stood, a wide grin covering his face. The archer began to make her way towards the dwarf. Charlie looked as if he was going to attempt at rushing the woman, but was quickly distracted by a man who wore dark streaks of violet sent what could only be described as a beam of shadow towards him. Charlie was almost hit directly, his blade allowing him to block _most_ of the beam, causing it to spill past him and off the stage.

Charlie appeared to expect his blade to turn to a shade of purple, but instead, he was greeted by something... _odd_. His blade appeared to be engulfed by the shadows, creating an outline, a faint pink glow could be seen. While odd, he quickly fprgot about it, bringing his attention towards the violet armored man, who was already sending a orb of darkness towards him.

Away from Charlie and the man, the archer and the dwarf were fighting, wave after wave of water being sent, yet only to be cut away by the archers two blades as she put them together, pulling back and watching as a yellow arrow materialized onto the drawstring, flying out as her fingers gracefully let go of the arrow. While the shot did land just a few feet away from the dwarf, a jolt of electric current struck the dwarf as his joints began to stiffen, leaving him stunned on the ground.

Back to Charlie, his blade was starting to spark with pink as he continued to deflect each burst of Dark Aura. Charlie and his combatant grew more tired after each strike. Charlie managed to get close enough to the man to start a swing from his sword, before a blunt hit to his side plating caused him to stumble aside. A baton was gripped in his hand as he breathed heavily, nearly exhasuted from casting so much Aura.

 _That was when a rumble moved through the stadium and surrounding city._ People, inside the stadium at least, were unaware of it, assuming it was a part of the show.

 _Charlie's blade was almost a pure black at this point, a small thin sliver of pink could be seen if one looked hard enough. Anothe shake could be felt, **stronger** than the last._ The stands were now panicing at this point, this _clearly_ wasn't a part of the Gala. Charlie looked over to grab his blade, worried like the rest and wanting to arm himself. But he hesitated with confusion, his blade was beginning to shine a neon pink, the dark shadows covering it quickly receeding. They did not vanish, however, but instead, the shadows appeared to fall off into the water, starting to grow in size.

The shadows turnex to shapes, and the shapes to a figure, one that was massive in size. The reflection of nothing reached out with a deformed arm, trying to grab at the blade. Charlie picked it up, trying to stop the shadow from robbing him of the blade. As he pulled up, black tendrills from the creature seemed to pull back down, creating a tugging war between them. Behind the reflection of the shadowed beast were the shiny blue stars of the Fanto sky. Charlie garnered all of his stregnth as he pulled at the sword, managing to break the blade from the tendrills. Charlie fell back with the blade in his hand and watched as the neon color began to intensify, before a beam of the neon pink shot up into the sky, quickly disappearing afterwards. As the light faded, Charlie looked down, expecting the beast to still be in the water. Instead, he saw only the vast blue sky thst lay above him. Although cries of fear came from all sides, Charlie looked up to see something odd.

 _A bright pink star._ It was beautiful- of course- but that beauty was shortlived. The pink hue began to almost _leak_ onto every other star, spreading like an epidemic. More and more of the stars began to change, changing even the hue of the surroundings. All the stars were now pink, other than a small set of them in to distance. Although ths shaking had long since stopped and the sky stopped changing, Charlie couldn't help but feel that...

 _This was only the beginning._

* * *

 _This rewrite has been a fun experience so far. I've been doing this on the side, but I can't help but think about this thing all the time. I always wanted to do a story thst focused less on normal Minecraft tropes (Herobrine, Youtubers, Mob Talker, ect.) I wanted to put something on the table that was... different. While this Fanfic may hold the Minecraft tag a bit loosely, I think that it shows that there's more to write than the common tropes. I stopped writting the first version of this story at Chapter 12, and now I'm at Chapter 13, I want this to be an OK story to read, if nothing else, and I hope that you, the reader, also understand that. Sorry for the rambling, but I just wanted to throw that out there. Have a great week everyone._


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The Adventure _Really_ Begins

 _"Every new beginning comes from something else's end."_

 _-Unknown_

* * *

 _(Ender's POV)_

"...and the last one standing wins, it's simple." Maeve had finished explaining everything about the past few hours, William and Siklod, and a bit about the tournament by the time we got to the stadium.

"Right..." I responded as we reached the seating, which had been filled entirely. "Any idea where the rest of them are?"

"Well, wherever they may be, we're _definitely_ not getting a seat." She stood besides me, staring at both the ocean-like appearance of the crowd, at the center of them all, a darkened arena, where eight lights began to glow, _one after the other..._

 _(A/N: If you're confused about the time skip, please look back to Chapter 13, enjoy!)_

* * *

The blue stars had quickly changed to a neon pink, an odd shape of unchanged stars sat in the distance, almost invisible due to the stadiums high walls. The stadium was filled with people that wore looks of fear, as if nothing like this had ever happened to them before, and they would be right. I was the first to break the silence as I looked away from the sky and back down to Maeve.

"We have to find the rest of the group."

Only a nod came from her as she too looked away, now turning back from where we stood and quickly making it back outside. People had already begun to flood the streets, all of them fearful and curious as to what the city-wide commotion was all about. We headed back towards the hospital, hoping that the rest of the group would be there or that they would be coming for us, and thankfully, our expectations were _somewhat_ met. Waiting near the front of the hospital, we saw a set of familiar faces come from the crowd of people that were left to wonder what the sky was about.

"Maeve! Ender!" Dan blurted out as he and Obsi squeezed through a group of people. "We were hoping that we'd find you guys here, you saw what happened, right?"

"Yeah, whatever that was with Charlie's sword, it wasn't... natural." Maeve replied. "It looked like that dark magic effected his sword somehow..."

"Well, hopefully we're going to find out soon enough, but for now we need to get back with the rest of the group. They've already made their way to a remote lab that's closer to the outskirts of the city, it's not too far." Obsi explained, concern was on her face, she, like the rest of us, had no clue what was happening.

"Let's stop wasting time and get there." I said, almost impatiently, but the others apparently felt the same.

"Right, this way." Dan agreed, giving a nod before moving past us. We began to hastily follow suit, passing the crowded streets and people that filled them. The sky, in the outline of my vision, quickly, the stars turned back to their deep blue color, almost as if they were inverting. An odd shape of stars was still left at their bright pink tone, almost as if it were a symbol. Ahead of us was the lab, it was mainly a whitened concrete with windows cut out for those inside to view out, perfect for a time like this. "They should already be inside, _hopefully..._ " Dan said to us, muttering to himself as he cut his sentence short.

Inside the lab looked like a hurricane disaster, papers flung around on the tables and floors, people stumbling around figuring out what to do, and rightfully so, but the sound of William shouting at people didn't seem to help.

"...pointing somewhere, so find out what it's pointing to, ASAP!" Williams voice pierced our ears as a short-haired dwarven woman quickly ran past us and to a table that looked to have been moved to the window, where a clear view of the symbol in the stars was. Over where William could be heard, the rest of the group was spread out. Charlie, William, and Siklod stood around a table where the crystalline blade sat. A dim yellow beam slid over the blade, going back and forth over the blade.

"We found Maeve for you, along with Ender." Obsi spoke. Maeve and I stepped past Dan and Obsi, Maeve taking a few more steps closer than me towards William.

"Perfect timing, Maeve, _please_ tell me you saw the fight." William worryingly asked.

"Don't worry, I did."

"Great! Can you tell me what your thoughts are on these scans?" William stepped to the side from the panel, allowing room for her to stand at it.

"Well, I'm a bit rusty with reading out the scans, it's been what, a year or two? But, I can give it a shot." She explained as she began to examine whatever information showed up on the panel. Then William and her began to discuss among themselves for a bit.

"So... where were you two at when shit hit the fan?" Cole said towards me, hoping to pass the time while William and Maeve rambled on about whatever scans they were doing.

"Maeve came back to grab me, so I could watch the show. What about you?" I inquired, walking closer to him on the other side of the room.

"Ehhh," He began with a shrug. "It was pretty boring, for everyone but Charlie at least. He went to see the rest of the contestants before the competition and we were sent to some seats near where William and Siklod were annotating. Then... well... _that_ happened." He motioned to the sword on the table, it's deep blue sheen had already returned. Further away, I could see through the window, where the bottom of the odd constellation could be faintly seen.

"Well, whatever _that_ was, it can't be good."

"Definitely, and nothin' about this feels right."

* * *

 _(Obsi's POV)_

At first, it seemed like a regular year, much like all the others for the Gala. But that was when it all happened, the stars, the confused and scared looks of people, all of them wanting an answer, and now here we were, all of us left confused until William and Maeve gave us an answer. Ender and Cole stood in the corner, conversing, more than likely just to pass the time, but my attention was brought to someone tugging at my sleeve.

"Hey Obsi, Dan's wantin' ya." Dio said before turning back out the room and to an area where Dan and Eve stood, they occasionally shared glances to the window, before looking back at one another. Dio motioned for me to follow, and I agreed, following closely behind him before we got to them. They were speaking to one of the lab workers, who directed towards a table, where a map was set.

"...I'm just saying, whatever that... _thing_ is pointing to, it's in the middle of nowhere." The worker explained.

"Do you know anything about the history of the area?" Dan replied.

The worker let out a irritated groan, before turning and walking into another room. "Let me go check..."

"Have they found anything yet?" Eve asked, it was almost surprised me for a moment, to see her impatient like that.

"Nothing as far as I can tell, but I heard that you wanted something from me Dan?"

"You've gone on other ruin expeditions before, right?"

"A few... why do you ask?"

Dan moved to the table where the map was, pointing to an almost peninsula like extent from the rest of the mainland. "Were you ever sent around these parts?"

"No- I mean, people talked all about some ruins that _might_ be there, but it's never been found."

"Alright, well they've been saying that the constellation is pointing there."

The sound of the door opening behind us drew our attention, the worker walking back in with a few papers in his arms, which he placed onto the table.

"Well, from the records that we have here in Dolgow, there have been confirmations of a kingdom being there for a short period, but it was wiped out."

"Wiped out by what?" Eve asked as she eyed the constellation for a moment.

"The records don't show, but whatever it was, it left nothing behind."

"What do you think happened?" I asked, looking back down at the map for a moment. The worker seemed perplexed. "Well, that part of the mainland is prone to flooding..."

"But flooding couldn't have wiped it all out without a trace."

Before anyone could reply, Charlie came walking out, his sword on his side as he paced towards us.

"Well? What'd they find?" Dio finally asked.

"Nothing, whatever happened isn't traceable, from whatever they explained. I can't remember exactly what they said..."

"Well, tell William and the rest of them that we have a hunch." Dan said.

"A hunch?" Charlie crossed his arms, raising a brow in interest.

"I'll explain shortly, but just tell him that it's better than trying to figure it out here." Dan motioned to the window, where the constellation was in full view, the pink stars slightly twinkling. "I have a feeling that our answer is out there, _somewhere..._ "


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: Here we are with Chapter 15! Things should begin to pick up their pace, but i'm going to try my best at kesping this story at a set pace, so if it's too slow foryou, i'm sorry. You can leave a review and let me know of it, or PM me, either way works. Anyways, onto Chapter 15!_

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

The Stars in The Sky

 _"Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you'll still land among the stars."_

 _-Unknown_

* * *

( _Nobody's POV)_

"Where?" William questioned as Dan directed his attention to the small, barren-looking peninsula on the map.

"The Isle of Aglal?" One of the researchers questioned, gazing at the map as if to expect another solution.

"Dan," William began. "I've sent dozens of researchers, explorers, historians, you name it, and _all_ of them have come back empty handed. The only thing we actually know of that _is_ there are some barren ruins, but that's all."

Obsi took a step forward, before speaking herself. "What if you're wrong?"

Irritation began to grow inside William as he heard the response. "You think that _I_ haven't searched that island myself?"

"I think..." Cole interjected. "That whatever Charlie's sword did to cause... _that_ , might show us something that hasn't been available to us before. Besides, it's not like we got another choice."

Some people in the room nodded or muttered in agreement as William thought for a moment, before letting out a small chuckle. "You're never one to change your mind."

"I have my moments." Dan smirked before putting his hands onto his sides, almost in an act of triumph.

"Well, once you've gone throught and found... _whatever_ it is that's there, what then?"

Dan simply shruged in response. "Eh, we'll cross that bridge when we get there." He turned to the rest of the people scattered amidst the room. "Alright everyone, we'll be heading to Aglal. So get ready, whether you rest, get supplies, or whatever. Just be ready to leave bright and early in the morning."

* * *

 _(Obsi's POV)_

Everyone around the room got up as Dan finished telling us the plan, and I caught sight of Ender making his way outside. I still had questions on my mind, about him, his time with... _them,_ and anything else that I could think of. I found myself walking outside right behind him, where the commotion outside had mostly died down. A few people were scattered about the buildings, still looking to the sky and trying to make sense of what they saw, but other than that, it was almost as calm as any other night.

"Talk about a light show," He said, keeping his eyes locked onto the blue stars, where the light seemed to be hindered from the distant clouds.

A quick huff of air left me, almost like a laugh. "Tell me about it." Quietness then filled the air as we both were left looking at the sky, perhaps we were both left to think about what had just happened in the past day. After a moment longer, I spat out a question, trying to break the ice.

"You know, back when we first ran into each other, I never got to ask any questions, about you, or any for that matter."

"Well, we have the entire night to ourselves," Ender sat down and propped his back onto the wall, "Ask away."

"How did you end up with... _them_ , after you?"

"Before I answer, who _is_ 'them'?"

"They never told you?" I asked, watching as Ender shook his head side to side in a negative response. "Well, they call themselves Project Tourm."

"I see... well, I ran into them a ways back, managed to lose them in the woods and snatched one of their toys while I was at it." He glanced down to the floor.

"And what about... your sword? The one that seemed to come out of thin air?"

* * *

 _(Ender's POV)_

The question lingered in my mind for a moment as I thought back, back to how this _all_ started...

* * *

 _The furthest thing I can remember was that cave._ _I found myself at the start of it all from inside that cave._

 _A pile of smoldering embers in the corner, a faint crackle would come from it every-so-often._

 _The sound of the wind blowing with the snow was the literal white noise that filled my ears._

 _I left from its mouth with clothes too thin for the journey, but I knew that I wouldn't be returning, for whatever reason that might have been._

 _The cold wind tore through me like the dead branches of trees in winter._

 _I don't know how long I walked, but eventually, as I began to grow restless in my search for something other than that cave, a distant, faint light called out to me._

 _I drew near to it, and almost felt that it drew closer to me. As I was in arms length, I clasped it, and pulled it from its sheath._

 _Through my numb fingers_ , _the sword felt light in nature, and the hilt felt unforgettable. Then, I recall seeing a faint outline of someone in the snow before two... almost familiar voices... called out._

 _Finally, almost in an instant, nothing but a dark abyss and two bright colored figures in front of me._

 _That was the moment I knew that, mixed with all of the fear, curiosity, and hope, I would answer the question._

 _Who **was** I?_

* * *

...but I couldn't just flat out tell her what _really_ happened, it would just sound insane.

"I..." The words couldn't seem to connect in my head as I tried to think of what to say. I tried to recall what she said to Cole and Maeve, hoping I could mirror it in some way. "I can't remember most of it, but what I _can_ remember is the cold, some voices that said something about... Doglow? That's it really." I was nervous as I explained, hopefully it seemed believeable.

"So...? The sword just... _materializes_?" She asked, reemphasizing her interest in it.

"I don't know how, but _yes_ , it does. I just foucus like it's in my hand and," I focused and acted as if the blade was in my hand, when a quick pop of light in the shape of my blade suddenly appeared. "...just like that, it's there." I propped the blade against the wall, the light coming from it was almost like a flashlight as the purple outline continued to pulse.

"Odd..." Obsi stared down at the blade for a moment, almost transfixed by its glow. She held out her hand as she reached for the blade, muttering something to herself. "What _is_ this thing made of?"

"I! wouldn't do that if I were you." I exclaimed, stopping her from grabbing the sword. She held a mixed look of confusion and conscerne as she pulled her hand away. "Something about this thing causes anyone that tries grabbing onto this thing's hilt to feel as though their hand is burning off."

"Out of all the experiments they've tried and worked on, that one _has_ to take the cake." Obsi eyed the sky for a moment, before back to me. "I don't like mentioning it that often, but seeing as you've met them already, you'd understand the most." She took a deep breath in and held it in for a moment.

* * *

 _(Obsi's POV)_

"What they did to me, to you, to _everyone else_ involved; Tourm has ruined the lives of _so. many. people._ Even today, just remembering what they did to me scares me." I instinctively placed my hand onto my stomach, where faint scars could still be felt. I thought back to the repetetiveness of my time there, but I also began to recall _the moments in between._

* * *

 _The blinding white lights of the room._

Flashes of memories from what feel like a lifetime ago.

 _The figure coming into the room to get me._

More bright lights, but with people standing around me, looking down and doing... **something** to me

 _The time the door was open, the one thst lead to my freedom._

The light of the exit surrounded me, when suddenly, flakes of snow began to slowly flutter down around me.

* * *

A chill ran down my spine as the thoughts of the past ran through my head. Even though it had all happened _six years_ ago, it was all so unforgettable.

"Listen Obsi, when we find Tourm again, we'll take it on _together._ "

"Right..." I nodded. Silence then fell upon us both as we stared up to the sky, before eventually heading back inside to prepare for the journey ahead.


	16. Chapter 16

_A/n: Hey guys! I feel like its been a moment since i've made an Authors note, so, here we have one! Hopefully, if you've read this far, you've enjoyed the story. I don't plan on stopping this anytime soon, but my scheduel **has** gone a bit out of wack, and for that, i'm sorry. However, I hope that if you have any problems with the story, let me know through a review or a DM, i'm not afraid of constructive criticism. I was planning on doing something for Chapter 20, once I get there. I'm going to put in some short snippits of info on the important characters I have in the story. Well, I don't have any other way to end this, so here we are with Chapter 16 of **A Prelude to Rise!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 16**

 _Face to Face_ (Pt. 1)

 _"There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error."_

 _-Unknown_

* * *

 _(Commander Glyse's POV)_

" _After three years of searching, they **have** to think I'm long gone."_

I didn't face the recorder as the voice repeated, I stared out into the city from the high rise. Buildings, even higher than the one that I stood in, grasped the sky, while a busied, apparently endless city stretched out. As the line repeated, I pondered on it, thinking about the person behind the voice.

 _The voice, despite being older that what I remember, was all too familiar to me._

* * *

 _-=Three Years Ago...=-_

It felt like an eternity of waiting, every time it felt as though we got close, _nothing_ From the moment she had left, I wanted to do everything that I could to get her back, but now, it was almost hopeless. That was, until I got the news.

"Commander, we just received word of a confirmed sighting of Subject-3295, she was last seen at the home of a woman named Vaige Shinn, apparently, due to the lack of information on her, we couldn't get any confirmation of it until now." The dark elf researcher told me as I leaned back in my seat, before he then handed over a picture. On it was that of a young woman, who hardly even appeared to be 30 her green eyed stare was alluring , but my attention was not focused onto her. Beside her was Subject-3295, the purple eyes, the black hair, and, although she was now 16, she still held onto that otherworldly complexion on her face.

"Grab our top extraction team, I want her back, she is a liability we cannot afford to lose." I quickly snared, not even taking my eyes off of the picture as I heard him turn around and begin to take his leave.

I was sure that, with that team and the amount of time you had been without us had been, it would have been simple. But, no. With two of our guys dropped and you now being lost from my grasp again, I felt nothing but failure and grief...

* * *

I shook the thought out of me, at least for the time being. I turned from the large window and went back towards the desk and pressed a button on the recorder. Besides my thoughts and the faint sounds from the ground below, silence now filled the room, but not for long. _She_ had a goal on her mind, and if I wanted to accomplish mine, it **had** to be done with her.

I almost hastily moved the receiver of the intercom on my desk close to me, before speaking, the nearby sound of the speaker static as they flickered on to life. "Mr. Cilo, would you please come to my office, it's... _important_." After I spoke, I seated myself back into my chair, and began working on side projects.

A few hours later, the sound of my office door opening caught my attention. Looking up to the door, I saw the man himself. His short stature was all to familiar with me as he entered the room.

"Ah, Cilo, I was starting to think you weren't coming."

"I was... _out._ I hurried over as soon as I got back." He stumbled through his explanation.

"That's besides the point now, I just wanted to inform you as soon as possible that our Fanto extension's message has been received. I hope that you will relay this information back to them ASAP." It appeared that, from the look on Cilo's face, it took him a moment to process the information. Then, his eyes glistened as the realization hit him.

"Yes sir, I'll do it at once." He nodded, getting up and making his way back out the door.

"Hold on, Cilo, I have one more thing to ask of you." I said, slightly irritated at his abrupt departure. He quickly stopped in his tracks and turned back to me.

"Yes?"

"I heard a certain someone lost his equipment. I want you to inform him that he is to retrieve what he has lost, _or die trying_."

"S-sir?" He responded with a folded brow.

"Failure is not appreciated here, _nor_ is it accepted."

"But-"

"That will be all."

* * *

 _A/n: Sorry for the shorter chapter, I'll make up for it with the next one hopefully, and I'll try my best to post it sooner than this one. Have a great week everybody._


	17. Chapter 17

**_~~VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ!~~_**

Hey guys and gals, it's me, EnderScar. Below is the next chapter to APtR, but before you read that, I would like to give a foreword. Now, back in 2017, I started to work on the first 'version' of this story, before that, there was another, but that one was... in poor taste. Anyways, 2017, I just started writing, and I was _into_ it. I had an idea planned out, and I had a start and end to the story. Considering that story has only **13 chapters** , I never finished it. Now, in the present, I feel that I'm reaching that point. But, I don't want to give up or Ender, _or_ Obsi's story here. I have _so many_ ideas for stories with these two characters that I want to write, but in order for me to do that, I need to stop/finish their story in Fanto. The reasoning behind this is two things, and they go hand in hand:

1\. Fanto was not, is not, and it _will not_ be my original setting. The characters inside this world are _not_ mine, other than Ender and Obsi.

2\. I've struggled with writing a fitting end to a story _I_ never created. I'm only adding to it, and, for me at least, I can only do _so much_ with it.

What I'm trying to get at here is that, **_I'm going to, pretty much almost immediately, stop writing about Fanto, the characters in it, and the overarching story within,_** but that doesn't mean that I'll stop writing, I'm just... throwing out something that should have been thrown out _two years ago_.

The following chapter is going to be a _slight_ timeskip, and the reasons for that are stated above. **Before you start reading, here's what you might want to know:**

 _Ender, Obis, and the rest of their team have made it to Aglal. They have discovered, with the help of Charlie's sword, that he is the last heir to the fallen Kingdom of Aura, which was destroyed by a dark force only known as The Queen_

 _Project Tourm's fallen prodigy, Merand, has been tasked to take out Ender and retrieve Obsi and the Umbrella. Tourm knew of their location through the audio tracker implemented onto the umbrella._

 _Vade has been speaking with_

Other than that, that is two chapters that I don't want, nor have to write now. I know that its a very lazy thing of me, but I'm very tired of being stuck here in this part of the story, I want to go forward, I want to _improve_ , and I don't think I'm improving here. So with those two morsels of information out there in your head, here's the final chapter of APtR. Enjoy...

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

Reset

 _You **build** on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. **Close the door on the past.** You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you **don't dwell on it.** You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space."_

 _-Johnny Cash_

* * *

 _(Ender's POV)_

"You alright Charlie?" I heard Eve say to him as he got back up to his feet. Ahead of us stood Merand, his hands were held up and obscured by the black gauntlets that covered each hand. I held out my sword as I turned back to the winded Charlie and nervous-looking Eve.

"Eve, take Charlie with you and let the rest of the group back by the ruins know what's happening. Obsi and I can-" Before I could finish explaining, a quick left hook from Merand caused me to stumble over to the side. Without a word, he began to hastily march over towards me. As I got up, Obsi came from behind and made a swing at him.

With a quick response, he ducked under the blow before trying to throw a punch back at her, only managing to connect with the open head of the umbrella, causing them both to be thrown back by the recoil.

Back on my feet, I lunged at Merand, my blade successfully hitting him as he went to grab the blade, stopping it right as it made contact with his side, allowing it to only graze him. With a hard pull, he caused me to stumble directly into a blow to the stomach. The pain and lack of air almost made me gag as I fell to the ground.

Merand seemed too focused on me when the sound of Obsi firing the Umbrella came from behind him. A bolt of blue energy quickly hitting and knocking him back. Obsi stepped into my view as I tried my best to shake off that punch to the gut. She held out her hand and I took it.

"You good?" She asked as she pulled me up to my feet for the second time.

"Eh..." I sputtered out, cringing slightly at the pain that still was in my stomach. "Could be better..." We both brought our attention back to Merand as he let out a chuckle.

"I'm glad I had only just started using that thing when you came along." Merand said as he glanced at the Umbrella in Obsi's hand. "I liked getting close and personal anyways. Bringing you back to Glyse will make up for my failures." He began to charge to us with haste behind him. Obsi and I prepared to defend as he lunged, wincing as he almost reached us, but as quick as a blink, he was gone, along with everything else.

* * *

Nothing was left around me, no ancient kingdom ruins, no one to have for backup, hell, nobody to use backup _against_. I was left alone, I almost wanted to shout out, until slow, loud footsteps came from behind. Turning around, I was met face to face with a large and tall figure, his grayed hairs forming across his face to create a beard, along with a thin head of hair. He wore a suit of all things, a dark blue, much like the shade Charlie wore on his gear. He stared down at me with his sapphire eyes and gave a smirk as he began to speak.

"Ah, you must be this... _Ender_ that I've been told of... Yes?" His gruff voice almost booming with each passing word. "I am Ulyum, the Storyteller of this universe. In simpler terms, I am God. Well, here at least. I have the ability to create _or_ destroy anything and everything. As my former name implies, I use the means of stories to portray this universe and what it may hold. Once I move on, well, _this_ happens." He motioned to the canvass-like surroundings.

"What did you do?" I questioned nervously. "Where did everything go?"

"I merely did what I have done countless times over, I have started again. The story that you know of, Charlie, Eve, and all of their companions. That one is over, their lives ending long before they even had the thought.

" _What_?! But all those people, there just... gone!?" I practically shouted back at him. He stared back with a look of surprise.

"Well if you wish to be blunt about it, then yes, they are gone." He turned away from me and scratched his hairy chin. "However, you _are_ here. Something about you has made you nigh impossible to detect. To be frank, I only realized you were here once you started to make your way to the main characters. I only know of _one_ other like you, and you know her all too well." He stepped aside, revealing Obsi to be laying on the ground, unconscious. "When I first discovered her, I hadn't realized what was off about her, but after your... _acquaintance_ informed me of you both, shortly before notifying you."

"...why end it now?" I simply asked, an almost dead voice coming from me.

"When I found her, she brought something with her, a shard of kinds, whatever it is, it's a _piece of Imori_ , **existence** **itself**. You can't even begin to _understand_ how impossible that is." He held it out with a hand, a shape unlike any other, continuously merging and collapsing onto itself. " _This_ is what holds everything together, not on a universal scale, but _multiversal._ Whatever it is that brought you here, made you like this, even to _them_ it is unfathomable. Something is happening, and whatever it is, well... who knows?"

I was left agape, my mind having not even begun to process the thought. The shard mainly held my focus, that was, until Obsi began to come to. She slowly got up onto her knees, before getting onto her feet.

"E-Ender...?" She asked, almost like she had woken up from sleeping. "What... happened?" Suddenly, her face grew from weariness to confusion and unease, her head moving around to view the blank surroundings. "Where... _are_ we?"

Ulyum looked down to me, seemingly ignoring Obsi and her question. "I'd love to stay and repeat everything that I told you, but, being a storyteller, I got more to read... _and_ tell." With that, he turned and began walking over to what looked to be a large, comfortable looking seat, a small pile of books laying on a nightstand besides it.

"Ender..." Obsi spoke from behind me, I turned to her and our surroundings had suddenly changed once again. "What the _hell_ happened?"

"Listen, I can't answer that for you, but _they_ can." I responded, pointing to Vade and Jinn, who were now behind her. She turned, and what I can only assume to be a look of shock came over her as she stared back at the two colored figures, their glows of orange and green almost mixing together.

"Hello, Obsi Dian, we believe that we have some explaining for you."

 _It had been almost a year since I started this, going from universe to universe, searching for answers. I had almost lost hope, that was, until I found Obsi Dian. Finding her, and learning of these shards, were made by something. Explaining everything to her was a relief for me, yet a shock to her. She cried, she was confused, but most importantly, she was afraid. It almost reminded me of that same fear when I first found Vade and Jinn. It __reminded me that this was just the start for something far greater than just me, and I knew that one way, or another..._

 _I would find answers._

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 _A/n: That's it, for now. I'm sorry that this might not be what you want from this story, but i feel that if I want it to continue, it has to be like this. Hopefully you stick around, but if not, I hope you find something else that you enjoy. Before this chapter ends, I want to just give a final thank you to some people that were more or less part of this story._

 _Thank you to:_

 _Ckbrothers, for creating The Aura Chronicles story, even though it never finished._

 _The other participants of The Aura Chronicles story, the ones that made their submissions._

 _MidnightShard99, who has allowed me to use her character Obsi. Hopefully you're still reading this._

 _More will be coming soon, not next week, but soon hopefully._


	18. One Step Forwards, Two Steps Back

Hello everyone. It's been another minute since we last talked. A lot has happened since the last time I updated this story and I wanted to let you guys know about a few things:

1\. School these past few months has been very stressful, especially considering most of it is done at home amongst family things.

2\. Holidays. Holidays. Holidays.

3\. Writer's Block/LoI in APTR

4\. Disatisfied by earlier chapters lead to #3

Obviously, one big question is going through your head right now.

 _What does this mean for APtR?_

Well, for the new year, I have some plans, and I'm going to talk about them. This mainly pertains to issues 3 and 4, but here they are.

1\. I plan to/wish to rework the first 'Arc' to make it more consistent from chapter to chapter.

2\. I want to go into the next 'Arc' with a planned beginning, middle, and end.

3\. I want opinions, you guys have done well leaving reviews, so if anything bothers you, please tell me!

4\. I hope to have this started/planned out by the end of the year, and after that we'll just see what happens.

Again guys, I can't thank you guys enough for taking the time to read this dumb little story. From the bottom of my heart to you all, thank you.

See you guys soon.


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